Coral Fungi
dark spot syndrome
Here we describe the fungal communities associated with grossly normal coral and coral affected by dark spot syndrome. Using 28S rRNA gene sequencing of coral samples collected from Agaricia spp. and Madracis spp., we characterized the community membership and structure to determine whether there were significant differences between normal and affected coral. Based on analysis of molecular variance, we observed two community states where a seemingly novel fungal genus is likely the dominant fungus associated with Agaricia spp. and Madracis spp. affected by dark spot syndrome.