Project Summary for 2006-09: The link between coral hosts, surface microbiota and disease
The growing number of reports of disease outbreaks in the oceans illustrates not only that pathogens are important ecological stressors in this system, but that there are significant gaps in our understanding of these host-pathogen interactions. Specifically, the causal link between environmental stressors and disease have been rarely evaluated experimentally. The discovery of Aspergillus sydowii, a readily culturable fungus, as a pathogen of the abundant Caribbean sea fan coral (Gorgonia spp.) has allowed unprecedented investigation of a marine host-pathogen interaction.
The proposed work will test the hypothesis that disease in this pathosystem is mediated by changes in the structure of the resident microbial community adapted to living on the coral surface (i.e., surface microbiota). This hypothesis, referred to as the Coral-Microbiota-Disease hypothesis, is based on our understanding of the role that surface microbiota play in conferring colonization resistance in the human intestinal tract and the role of biodiversity on the invasibility of ecological communities. Using a combination of field experiments in which sea fan fragments will be exposed to elevated levels availability and metabolic profiling techniques, the proposal aims to test specific predictions outlined below:
In addition, continued long-term monitoring of permanent transects (9 years to date) and establishing deeper octocoral communities (20+ m) to complement the existing shallow sites is proposed.
The results of the experimental work will provide critically needed mechanistic understanding of host disease resistance and, more importantly, a general understanding of how disease resistance is modulated by environmental stressors. The results of the survey work in provide a unique, long-term assessment of marine disease dynamics.
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