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Cyanotoxins from Black Band Disease of Corals and from Other Coral Reef Environments

  • Microbiology Of Aquatic Systems
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Abstract

Many cyanobacteria produce cyanotoxins, which has been well documented from freshwater environments but not investigated to the same extent in marine environments. Cyanobacteria are an obligate component of the polymicrobial disease of corals known as black band disease (BBD). Cyanotoxins were previously shown to be present in field samples of BBD and in a limited number of BBD cyanobacterial cultures. These toxins were suggested as one of the mechanisms contributing to BBD-associated coral tissue lysis and death. In this work, we tested nine cyanobacterial isolates from BBD and additionally nine isolated from non-BBD marine sources for their ability to produce toxins. The presence of toxins was determined using cell extracts of laboratory grown cyanobacterial cultures using ELISA and the PP2A assay. Based on these tests, it was shown that cyanobacterial toxins belonging to the microcystin/nodularin group were produced by cyanobacteria originating from both BBD and non-BBD sources. Several environmental factors that can be encountered in the highly dynamic microenvironment of BBD were tested for their effect on both cyanobacterial growth yield and rate of toxin production using two of the BBD isolates of the genera Leptolyngbya and Geitlerinema. While toxin production was the highest under mixotrophic conditions (light and glucose) for the Leptolyngbya isolate, it was highest under photoautotrophic conditions for the Geitlerinema isolate. Our results show that toxin production among marine cyanobacteria is more widespread than previously documented, and we present data showing three marine cyanobacterial genera (Phormidium, Pseudanabaena, and Spirulina) are newly identified as cyanotoxin producers. We also show that cyanotoxin production by BBD cyanobacteria can be affected by environmental factors that are present in the microenvironment associated with this coral disease.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Elizabeth Remily, Longin Kaczmarsky, and Joshua Voss for field assistance and Kathleen Rein for providing purified microcystin-LR. The comments of three anonymous reviewers improved this manuscript. This research was supported by NIH (NIH/NIGMS SO6GM8205) and FIU. Sample collection in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary was conducted under permit numbers FKNMS-2003-011 and FKNMS-2005-010. This is contribution 166 of the Tropical Biology Program at Florida International University.

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  1. Raju Sekar

    Present address: Biological and Environmental Systems Group, Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, University Park, Miami, FL, 33199, USA

    Miroslav Gantar, Raju Sekar & Laurie L. Richardson

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  1. Miroslav Gantar
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Correspondence to Miroslav Gantar.

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Gantar, M., Sekar, R. & Richardson, L.L. Cyanotoxins from Black Band Disease of Corals and from Other Coral Reef Environments. Microb Ecol 58, 856–864 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-009-9540-x

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