Biology Faculty Articles
Title
Insights Into Migration and Development of Coral Black Band Disease Based on Fine Structure Analysis
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-2012
Publication Title
Revista de Biología Tropical
Keywords
Black band disease, Biofilm, Microbial mat, Corals
ISSN
2215-2075
Volume
60
Issue/No.
Supplement 1
First Page
22
Last Page
27
Abstract
In many diverse ecosystems, ranging from natural surfaces in aquatic ecosystems to the mammalian gut and medical implants, bacterial populations and communities exist as biofilms. While the process of biofilm development has been well-studied for those produced by unicellular bacteria such Pseudomonas aeruginosa, little is known about biofilm development associated with filamentous microorganisms. Black band disease (BBD) of corals is characterized as a polymicrobial biofilm (mat) community, visually-dominated by filamentous cyanobacteria. The mat migrates across a living coral host, completely lysing coral tissue and leaving behind exposed coral skeleton. It is the only known cyanobacterial biofilm that migrates across a substratum, thus eliciting questions about the mechanisms and unique characteristics of this system. Fragments of the coral Montastraea annularis, five artificially infected with BBD and two collected from a naturally BBD-infected colony, were used to address these questions by detailed examination using scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM). In areas close to the interface of coral tissue and the mature disease band two types of clusters of cyanobacteria were observed, one with random orientation and one with parallel orientation of filaments. The latter exhibited active secretion of extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) while the randomly oriented clusters did not. Within the well developed band cyanobacterial filaments were observed to be embedded in EPS and were present as layers of filaments in parallel orientation. These observations suggest that BBD cyanobacteria orient themselves and produce EPS in a sequential process during migration to form the complex BBD matrix.
NSUWorks Citation
Miller, Aaron; Patricia Blackwelder; Husain Al-Sayegh; and Laurie L. Richardson. 2012. "Insights Into Migration and Development of Coral Black Band Disease Based on Fine Structure Analysis." Revista de Biología Tropical 60, (Supplement 1): 22-27. doi:10.15517/rbt.v60i0.19839.
DOI
10.15517/rbt.v60i0.19839
