Download Bacterial Community

Bacterial Community Associated with Black Band Disease in Corals
Jorge Frias-Lopez, James S. Klaus, George T. Bonheyo, and Bruce W. Fouke
Adam Abou-Youssef
Destruction of coral is a very serious problem for marine ecosystems. Among the causes is black
band disease (BBD), which is a mat of bacteria that form a literally black band around coral and works its
way down destroying tissue and leaving only the coral skeleton. Data so far suggests that certain
populations of coral are more susceptible to infection than others and that the populations of bacteria
in BBD are incredibly diverse. Cyanobacteria species have been identified as critical players in BBD as
well as other genera.
The authors ran two major tests on extracted DNA which was extracted en masse from BBD mat
samples: the first was terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis to identify bacteria
which were most abundant on the BBD mat; the second was most-probable-number PCR quantify
species. BBD mat samples were taken from three locations and tested using these methods.
The results found considerable variation between populations of BBD mats. Although
cyanobacteria have been determined to be a key player in BBD, there was no specific population
proportion nor were there species found that were thought to be defining in BBD such as the Beggiatoa
spp.; however, they may have been present at levels too low to be identified. What is very important to
note is that cyanobacteria found in the BBD mat samples were absent from healthy coral.
The authors conclude by stating that further research can be advanced by utilizing T-RFLP and
MPN-PCR to identify bacteria species in BBD mat samples. These species can then be isolated and
cultured for further study on how they contribute specifically to the disease. While not explicitly
mentioned, it is implied that these can then be used to find possible solutions to the disease.