Seasonal changes in bacterial communities associated with healthy and diseased Porites coral in southern Taiwan.
We compared the bacterial communities associated with healthy scleractinian coral Porites sp. with those associated with coral infected with pink spot syndrome harvested during summer and winter from waters off the coast of southern Taiwan. Members of the bacterial community associated with the coral were characterized by means of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of a short region of the 16S rRNA gene and clone library analysis. Of 5 different areas of the 16S rRNA gene, we demonstrated that the V3 hypervariable region is most suited to represent the coral-associated bacterial community. The DNA sequences of 26 distinct bands extracted from DGGE gels and 269 sequences of the 16S rRNA gene from clone libraries were determined. We found that the communities present in diseased coral were more heterogeneous than the bacterial communities of uninfected coral. In addition, bacterial communities associated with coral harvested in the summer were more diverse than those associated with coral collected in winter, regardless of the health status of the coral. Our study suggested that the compositions of coral-associated bacteria communities are complex, and the population of bacteria varies greatly between seasons and in coral of differing health status.
a Department of Bioresources, DaYeh University, Chang-Hua 51591, Taiwan.
Chorng-Horng
CH
Lin
b Graduate Institute of Marine Biology, National Dong Hwa University, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan.
Chih-Hsiang
CH
Chuang
c Department of Planning and Research, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan.|d Department of Life Sciences, National Taitung University, Taitung 95002, Taiwan.
Wen-Hung
WH
Twan
e Department of Marine Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan.
Shu-Fen
SF
Chiou
f Department of Biology, University of Memphis, Memphis, TN 38152, USA.
Tit-Yee
TY
Wong
g Department of Biological Sciences, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan.
Jong-Kang
JK
Liu
b Graduate Institute of Marine Biology, National Dong Hwa University, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan.
Chyuan-Yao
CY
Kao
b Graduate Institute of Marine Biology, National Dong Hwa University, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan.|c Department of Planning and Research, National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, Pingtung 94450, Taiwan.
Jimmy
J
Kuo
D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D044822:Biodiversity; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D058645:Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis; D015723:Gene Library; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012621:Seasons; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013624:Taiwan; D014200:Trematoda / Q000472:pathogenicity
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S
DGGE; coral disease; effets de l’amorce; maladie de corail; maladie des points roses; pink spot syndrome; primer effects