Affiliation:
1. Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology1 and
2. Department of Zoology,2 The George S. Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel, and
3. Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, United Kingdom3
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Inoculation of the coral-bleaching bacterium
Vibrio shiloi
into seawater containing its host
Oculina patagonica
led to adhesion of the bacteria to the coral surface via a β-
d
-galactose receptor, followed by penetration of the bacteria into the coral tissue. The internalized
V. shiloi
cells were observed inside the exodermal layer of the coral by electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy using specific anti-
V. shiloi
antibodies to stain the intracellular bacteria. At 29°C, 80% of the bacteria bound to the coral within 8 h. Penetration, measured by the viable count (gentamicin invasion assay) inside the coral tissue, was 5.6, 20.9, and 21.7% of the initial inoculum at 8, 12, and 24 h, respectively. The viable count in the coral tissue decreased to 5.3% at 48 h, and none could be detected at 72 h. Determination of
V. shiloi
total counts (using the anti-
V. shiloi
antibodies) in the coral tissue showed results similar to viable counts for the first 12 h of infection. After 12 h, however, the total count more than doubled from 12 to 24 h and continued to rise, reaching a value 6 times that of the initial inoculum at 72 h. Thus, the intracellular
V. shiloi
organisms were transformed into a form that could multiply inside the coral tissue but did not form colonies on agar medium. Internalization of the bacteria was accompanied by the production of high concentrations of
V. shiloi
toxin P activity in the coral tissue. Internalization and multiplication of
V. shiloi
are discussed in terms of the mechanism of bacterial bleaching of corals.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Ecology,Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology,Food Science,Biotechnology
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