Some biochemical properties of bacterial communities associated with mucopolysaccarides in healthy tissues of the coral Montastraea annularis attacked by the yellow blotch syndrome

• Published in: Interciencia Vol. 29; no. 1; pp. 39 - 45
• Main Authors: Garcia, A, Croquer, A, Malaver, N
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: 01.01.2004
• Subjects: Marine; Montastraea annularis; ASW, Venezuela, La Guaira Port
• ISSN: 0378-1844

Three colonies affected by the yellow blotch syndrome were selected. For each colony, a mucus sample associated to normal and diseased tissues was taken with a 5 ml syringe. Water samples were collected in 10 ml sterilized flasks, 1 m away from each colony. Samples were transported in ice coolers for bacteria isolation using microbiology methods. Eight biochemical tests, were performed for each of the 25 bacterial colonies randomly selected from each sample. The biochemical features of these bacterial communities were compared by cluster analysis. Bacterial communities associated with the mucopolysaccharide layer of diseased tissues showed 60% of bacteria able to degrade both proteins and lipids. These bacteria showed a capacity to use urea (40%) compared with to water bacterial communities (10%). Bacteria (70%) isolated from all samples were able to reduce nitrates to nitrites and growth in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The ability of bacteria to degrade proteins, lipids and urea in the mucopolysaccharide layer might be related with the mechanisms that produce the tissue mortality observed in the yellow blotch syndrome.