Bacterial community associated with black band disease in corals.

ABSTRACT: Black band disease (BBD) is a virulent polymicrobial disease primarily affecting massive-framework-building species of scleractinian corals. While it has been well established that the BBD bacterial mat is dominated by a cyanobacterium, the quantitative composition of the BBD bacterial mat community has not described previously. Terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis was used to characterize the infectious bacterial community of the bacterial mat causing BBD. These analyses revealed that the bacterial composition of the BBD mat does not vary between different coral species but does vary when different species of cyanobacteria are dominant within the mat. On the basis of the results of a new method developed to identify organisms detected by T-RFLP analysis, our

SUBMITTER: Frias-Lopez J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC522118 | biostudies-literature | 2004 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature