White Syndrome Coral pathogens in the Indo-Pacific

Bacterial isolates were obtained from corals displaying White Syndrome disease signs at 3 sites: Nikko Bay in the Republic of Palau, Nelly Bay in the central Great Barrier Reef and Majuro Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.Bacterial isolates were obtained from corals displaying disease signs at three WS outbreak sites: Nikko Bay in the Republic of Palau, Nelly Bay in the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR) and Majuro Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and used in laboratory-based infection trials to satisfy Henle-Koch's postulates, Evan's rules and Hill's criteria for establishing causality. Infected colonies produced similar signs to those observed in the field following exposure to bacterial concentrations of 1 x106 cells ml-1. Phylogenetic 16S rRNA gene analysis demonstrated that all six pathogens identified in this study were members of the g-Proteobacteria family Vibrionacae, each with greater than 98% sequence identity with the previously characterized coral bleaching pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus. Screening for proteolytic activity of more than 150 coral derived bacterial isolates by a chemical assay and specific primers for a Vibrio family zinc-metalloprotease demonstrated a significant association between the presence of isolates capable of proteolytic activity and observed disease signs.
Laboratory-based infection trials to establish causality of White Syndrome affecting corals of the Indo-Pacific.
The first study to provide evidence for the involvement of a unique taxonomic group of bacterial pathogens in the aetiology of Indo-Pacific coral diseases affecting multiple coral species at multiple locations.Bulk of data is held with JCU PhD stduent Meir Sussman as part of an AIMS/JCU collaborative supervised Project.Meir Sussman was funded on an IPRS scholarship.