[CDHC] New papers out by CDHC members

Cheryl Woodley Cheryl.Woodley at noaa.gov
Sat Mar 6 15:57:40 EST 2010


Hi CDHC Members
I wanted to draw your attention to two recent publications by fellow 
members:
The first is by Katie Southerland et al. in Environmental Microbiology's 
early view
The second is by Shini Sunagawa et al. in Plos One which is open access 
and posted yesterday.

I have pasted the citations below for your information.  If you have any 
questions please contact the authors directly.
All the best
Cheryl

-------------------------------------
Sutherland, K.P., J.W. Porter, J.W. Turner, B.J. Thomas, E.E. Looney, 
T.P. Luna, M.K. Meyers, J.C. Futch, and E.K. Lipp.  2010. Human sewage 
identified as likely source of white pox disease of the threatened 
Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata.  Environmental Microbiology 
(doi: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2010.02152)

*Human sewage identified as likely source of white pox disease of the 
threatened Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata*
Kathryn Patterson Sutherland, ^1 * <#c1> James W. Porter, ^2 Jeffrey W. 
Turner, ^2,3 Brian J. Thomas, ^1 Erin E. Looney, ^3 Trevor P. Luna, ^1 
Meredith K. Meyers, ^2 J. Carrie Futch ^2,3 and Erin K. Lipp ^3
^1 Department of Biology, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL 32789, USA.
^2 Odum School of Ecology and ^3 Department of Environmental Health 
Science, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
Correspondence to  *E-mail kpsutherland at rollins.edu 
<mailto:kpsutherland at rollins.edu>; Tel. (+1) 407 691 1075; Fax (+1) 407 
646 2138.


  ABSTRACT


  Caribbean elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, has been decimated in
  recent years, resulting in the listing of this species as threatened
  under the United States Endangered Species Act. A major contributing
  factor in the decline of this iconic species is white pox disease. In
  2002, we identified the faecal enterobacterium, Serratia marcescens,
  as an etiological agent for white pox. During outbreaks in 2003 a
  unique strain of S. marcescens was identified in both human sewage and
  white pox lesions. This strain (PDR60) was also identified from
  corallivorious snails (Coralliophila abbreviata), reef water, and two
  non-acroporid coral species, Siderastrea siderea and Solenastrea
  bournoni. Identification of PDR60 in sewage, diseased Acropora palmata
  and other reef invertebrates within a discrete time frame suggests a
  causal link between white pox and sewage contamination on reefs and
  supports the conclusion that humans are a likely source of this disease.

------------------------------------------------

This message is from Shini Sunagawa:

Hello CDHC Members:
Given the recent discussions on biodiversity loss, the "infamous 82 
corals", and that 2010 is the "International Year of Biodiversity", we
would like to draw your attention to a paper published today in PLoS ONE:

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0009554

In this work, we captured the bacterial diversity associated with 
Caribbean corals using pyrosequencing. Two of the species we
investigated are listed under the US Endangered Species Act (Acropora  
palmata and A. cervicornis) and two more (Montastraea faveolata and M.  
franksi) belong to the "infamous 82 corals", now proposed to be added.

The results illustrate that corals provide specialized microbial  
habitats and thus highlight the importance of conserving corals from a
microbial diversity-based perspective.

Thanks for your interest!
Shinichi Sunagawa, Cheryl Woodley and Monica Medina

-- 
Cheryl Woodley, Ph.D.
Coral Health and Disease Program

DOC/NOAA/NOS/NCCOS
Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research
Hollings Marine Laboratory
331 Fort Johnson Rd
Charleston, SC 29412
843.762.8862 Phone
843.762.8737 Fax
cheryl.woodley at noaa.gov



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