Bacteria are not the primary cause of bleaching in the Mediterranean coral Oculina patagonica

Ainsworth, T.D., Fine, M., Roff, G., and Hoegh-Guldberg, O. (2008) Bacteria are not the primary cause of bleaching in the Mediterranean coral Oculina patagonica. ISME Journal: multidisciplinary journal of microbial ecology, 4 (2). pp. 67-73.

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View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2007.88
 
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Abstract

Coral bleaching occurs when the endosymbiosis between corals and their symbionts disintegrates during stress. Mass coral bleaching events have increased over the past 20 years and are directly correlated with periods of warm sea temperatures. However, some hypotheses have suggested that reef-building corals bleach due to infection by bacterial pathogens. The ‘Bacterial Bleaching’ hypothesis is based on laboratory studies of the Mediterranean invading coral, Oculina patagonica, and has further generated conclusions such as the coral probiotic hypothesis and coral hologenome theory of evolution. We aimed to investigate the natural microbial ecology of O. patagonica during the annual bleaching using fluorescence in situ hybridization to map bacterial populations within the coral tissue layers, and found that the coral bleaches on the temperate rocky reefs of the Israeli coastline without the presence of Vibrio shiloi or bacterial penetration of its tissue layers. Bacterial communities were found associated with the endolithic layer of bleached coral regions, and a community dominance shift from an apparent cyanobacterial-dominated endolithic layer to an algal-dominated layer was found in bleached coral samples. While bacterial communities certainly play important roles in coral stasis and health, we suggest environmental stressors, such as those documented with reef-building corals, are the primary triggers leading to bleaching of O. patagonica and suggest that bacterial involvement in patterns of bleaching is that of opportunistic colonization.

Item ID: 6494
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1751-7370
Keywords: coral bleaching; Oculina patagonica; Vibrio Shiloi
Date Deposited: 01 Feb 2010 22:43
FoR Codes: 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0606 Physiology > 060603 Animal Physiology Systems @ 40%
06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0605 Microbiology > 060504 Microbial Ecology @ 40%
06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0606 Physiology > 060602 Animal Physiology - Cell @ 20%
SEO Codes: 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 100%
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