Barneah Orit, Ben-Dov Eitan, Kramarsky-Winter Esti, Kushmaro Ariel
Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, PO Box 653, Be'er-Sheva 84105, Israel.
Environ Microbiol. 2007 Aug;9(8):1995-2006. doi: 10.1111/j.1462-2920.2007.01315.x.
Microbial communities associated with black band disease (BBD) in massive stony corals from the Northern Red Sea (Eilat) were examined for the first time using molecular tools and microscopy. A high microbial diversity was revealed in the affected tissue in comparison with the healthy area of the same colony. Microscopy revealed the penetration of cyanobacteria into the coral mesoglea and adjacent tissues. Cyanobacterial sequences from Red Sea BBD-affected corals formed a cluster with sequences previously identified from black band and red band diseased corals from the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean. In addition, 11 sequences belonging to the genus Vibrio were retrieved. This group was previously documented as pathogenic to corals. Sulfate-reducing bacteria, a group known to be associated with BBD and produce toxic sulfide, were studied using specific primers for the amplification of the dissimilatory sulfite reductase gene (dsrA). This technique facilitated and improved the resolution of the study of diversity of this group. All the sequences obtained were closely related to sequences of the genus Desulfovibrio and 46% showed high homology to Desulfovibrio desulfuricans. The complex nature of BBD and the lack of success in isolating a single causative agent suggest that BBD may be considered a polymicrobial disease.
首次使用分子工具和显微镜检查了红海北部（埃拉特）大型石珊瑚中与黑带病（BBD）相关的微生物群落。与同一珊瑚群体的健康区域相比，受影响组织中显示出高度的微生物多样性。显微镜检查显示蓝细菌侵入珊瑚中胶层和相邻组织。来自红海受BBD影响的珊瑚的蓝细菌序列与先前从印度-太平洋和加勒比地区的黑带病和红带病珊瑚中鉴定出的序列形成一个聚类。此外，还检索到11个属于弧菌属的序列。该组先前被记录为对珊瑚致病。使用用于扩增异化亚硫酸盐还原酶基因（dsrA）的特异性引物研究了硫酸盐还原细菌，该组细菌已知与BBD相关并产生有毒硫化物（硫化氢）。这项技术促进并提高了该组多样性研究的分辨率。获得的所有序列都与脱硫弧菌属的序列密切相关，46%与脱硫脱硫弧菌具有高度同源性。黑带病的复杂性质以及未能成功分离出单一病原体表明，黑带病可能被视为一种多微生物疾病。
