Vibrio zinc-metalloprotease causes photoinactivation of coral endosymbionts and coral tissue lesions

Coral diseases are emerging as a serious threat to coral reefs worldwide. Of nine coral infectious diseases, whose pathogens have been characterized, six are caused by agents from the family Vibrionacae, raising questions as to their origin and role in coral disease aetiology. Here we report on a Vi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2009-02, Vol.4 (2), p.e4511-e4511
Main Authors: Sussman, Meir, Mieog, Jos C, Doyle, Jason, Victor, Steven, Willis, Bette L, Bourne, David G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Anthozoa - microbiology
Bacterial Infections - enzymology
Binding sites
Bioassays
Biodiversity
Bivalvia
Communicable diseases
Coral reefs
Corals
Deactivation
Dinophyceae
Dinophyta
Disease
Endosymbionts
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acids
Flavobacterium
Heterocapsa
Inactivation
Infectious Diseases
Infectious Diseases/Bacterial Infections
Infectious Diseases/Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Diseases
Lesions
Medical research
Metalloproteases - physiology
Metalloproteinase
Microbiology
Microbiology/Applied Microbiology
Microbiology/Cellular Microbiology and Pathogenesis
Microbiology/Medical Microbiology
Microorganisms
Montipora aequituberculata
Pathogenicity
Pathogens
Photoinactivation
Photosystem II
Photosystem II Protein Complex - antagonists & inhibitors
Phylogeny
Plant Biology/Plant-Environment Interactions
Pocillopora
Proteins
Pulse amplitude modulation
Studies
Symbiodinium
Vibrio
Vibrio - enzymology
Vibrio - pathogenicity
Virulence
Virulence (Microbiology)
Virulence factors
Waterborne diseases
Zinc
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Summary:Coral diseases are emerging as a serious threat to coral reefs worldwide. Of nine coral infectious diseases, whose pathogens have been characterized, six are caused by agents from the family Vibrionacae, raising questions as to their origin and role in coral disease aetiology. Here we report on a Vibrio zinc-metalloprotease causing rapid photoinactivation of susceptible Symbiodinium endosymbionts followed by lesions in coral tissue. Symbiodinium photosystem II inactivation was diagnosed by an imaging pulse amplitude modulation fluorometer in two bioassays, performed by exposing Symbiodinium cells and coral juveniles to non-inhibited and EDTA-inhibited supernatants derived from coral white syndrome pathogens. These findings demonstrate a common virulence factor from four phylogenetically related coral pathogens, suggesting that zinc-metalloproteases may play an important role in Vibrio pathogenicity in scleractinian corals.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0004511