[Coral-List] Virus–host interactions and their roles in coral reef health and disease

[Rebecca Vega Thurber]

Hello Coral List,
   There have been many exciting, enthusiastic, and thought provoking
discussions on the list recently. While much of our work recent has focused
on the interactive effects of overfishing, nutrient pollution, thermal
stress on the bacteriology and ecology of coral reefs, we just published a
review paper about how these factors also affect and are affected by
viruses.
    In this review we provide an introduction to coral reef virology and
emphasizes the links between viruses, coral mortality and reef ecosystem
decline. We describe the distinctive benthic-associated and water-column-
associated viral communities that are unique to coral reefs, which have
received less attention than viruses in open-ocean systems.
   Along with the review itself we present some new and testable hypotheses
about how viruses of bacteria and eukaryotes dynamically interact with
their hosts in the water column and with corals to influence microbial
community dynamics, coral bleaching and disease, and reef biogeochemical
cycling.
   Last, we outline how marine viruses are an integral part of the reef
system and suggest that the influence of viruses on reef function is an
essential component of these globally important environments.
    Below is a link to the paper. We hope that it will encourage more
research in this arena and stimulate exciting and fruitful discussions,
collaborations, and ideally conservation action in the future.
   -Becky

http://www.nature.com/nrmicro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nrmicro.2016.176.html

-- 
Dr. Rebecca Vega Thurber
Associate Professor of Microbiology
Oregon State University
454 Nash Hall
Corvallis OR  97331-3804, U.S.A
541-737-1851 (office) 541-737-0496 (FAX)
rvegathurber at gmail.com;Rebecca.Vega-Thurber at oregonstate.edu
<Rebecca.Vega.Thurber at oregonstate.edu>