Virulence Factors of Vibrio sp. OCN014: A Putative Pathogen for Acropora White Syndrome

Coral diseases have been implicated as threat to coral reefs in both the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific.  Reports of coral disease continue to rise around the world and bacterial pathogens have been identified as a causative agent of some disease, many of which are of the genus Vibrio.  Investigation of disease outbreaks at Palmyra Atoll in 2011 resulted in the isolation of Vibrio sp. OCN014, from diseased Acropora cytherea. OCN014 is a putative pathogen for the disease Acropora white syndrome (AWS) affecting the Acropora spp. surrounding the Atoll. This project seeks to identify potential virulence factors that have been shown to be involved in virulence in other bacteria-animal pathogenic interactions, including flagella synthesis, hemolysin production, lipase activity, as well as any potentially novel factors.  A forward genetic screen will be employed; transposon mutants will be screened with the hopes of identifying targets that influence virulence. Thousands of bacterial strains derived from the transposon mutagenesis will be screened for deceased virulence using a Drosophila melanogaster infection assay and confirmed with coral infection trials of Montipora capitata.  This investigation will provide valuable insight into the virulence of OCN014, which will increase our knowledge of this disease and potentially aide in its management.  This investigation will also have far reaching potential in our understanding of other diseases affecting reefs, which have economic, cultural, biomedical, and ecological importance.