Genetic bases of immunity and disease resistance to white band disease in the Caribbean staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis

Abstract

Over the past thirty years, marine disease outbreaks have increased significantly, producing dramatic alterations in marine ecosystems worldwide. Reef-building corals have been particularly vulnerable to the increase in new epizootic diseases, and yet many aspects of the coral-pathogen interaction remain unresolved, including how corals respond to disease infections. One example is represented by White Band Disease (WBD), a coral disease that causes rapid tissue degradation in acroporid corals. Since the 1970`s, WBD outbreaks have caused catastrophic mass mortalities of two foundation species on Caribbean coral reefs, the staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis and the elkhorn coral A. palmata, which populations have collapsed by up to 98%. The etiology of WBD has not been fully elucidated yet, but presence of disease resistant genotypes and local recovery from WBD in natural populations of A. cervicornis suggest that staghorn corals have the ability to fight the disease and that genetic mechanisms may underlie resistance to WBD.