Abstract
The scleractinian coral Porites lutea, an important reef-building coral on western Indian Ocean reefs (WIO), is affected by a newly-reported white syndrome (WS) the Porites white patch syndrome (PWPS). Histopathology and culture-independent molecular techniques were used to characterise the microbial communities associated with this emerging disease. Microscopy showed extensive tissue fragmentation generally associated with ovoid basophilic bodies resembling bacterial aggregates. Results of 16S rRNA sequence analysis revealed a high variability between bacterial communities associated with PWPS-infected and healthy tissues in P. lutea, a pattern previously reported in other coral diseases such as black band disease (BBD), white band disease (WBD) and white plague diseases (WPD). Furthermore, substantial variations in bacterial communities were observed at the different sampling locations, suggesting that there is no strong bacterial association in Porites lutea on WIO reefs. Several sequences affiliated with potential pathogens belonging to the Vibrionaceae and Rhodobacteraceae were identified, mainly in PWPS-infected coral tissues. Among them, only two ribotypes affiliated to Shimia marina (NR043300.1) and Vibrio hepatarius (NR025575.1) were consistently found in diseased tissues from the three geographically distant sampling localities. The role of these bacterial species in PWPS needs to be tested experimentally.
Highlights
The scleractinian Porites lutea, commonly found on back reefs, lagoon and fringing reefs [1], is an important reef-building coral in the western Indian Ocean (WIO) reefs
This study aimed to provide the first characterisation of bacterial communities associated with healthy and Porites white patch syndrome (PWPS)-affected massive colonies of P. lutea in three WIO regions: Mayotte, South Africa and Reunion
Bacterial communities associated with healthy tissues A total of 91, 74 and 100 16S rRNA sequences (818–1627 bp), subdivided into seven, six and four classes (Table 2 and Fig. 3) were obtained from healthy tissues collected in Mayotte (HT-M), South Africa (HT-RSA) and Reunion (HT-R) respectively (Table 2)
Summary
The scleractinian Porites lutea, commonly found on back reefs, lagoon and fringing reefs [1], is an important reef-building coral in the western Indian Ocean (WIO) reefs. Of the 30 coral diseases described to date [7,8], eight are known to affect P. lutea worldwide. Surveys conducted in the Gulf of Kutch [9], Papua New Guinea [10] and Philippines [11] have recorded BBD outbreaks in this scleractinian coral. A study performed on coral health and diseases in the northern Egyptian Red Sea has revealed two other syndromes: Porites ulcerative white spot (PUWS) and a white syndrome (WS) so far unreported on P. lutea [12]. A white syndrome (WS) named Porites white patch syndrome (PWPS) was described on massive colonies of P. lutea on Western Indian
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