Probiotic solution treatment of a great star coral colony infected with stony coral tissue loss disease (IMAGE)
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Scientists with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have discovered that a bacterial probiotic helps slow the spread of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) in already infected wild corals in Florida. The findings, published today in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, reveal that applying the probiotic treatment across entire coral colonies helped prevent tissue loss.
Kelly Pitts, a research technician with the Smithsonian Marine Station at Ft. Pierce, Fla., and co-lead author of the study, treats great star coral (Montaststraea cavernosa) colonies infected with SCTLD with probiotic strain McH1-7 by covering the coral colony in a plastic bag, injecting a probiotic bacteria solution into the bag and leaving the bag for two hours to allow for the bacteria to colonize on the coral.
The team monitored the coral colonies for two and a half years and took multiple rounds of tissue and mucus samples to gauge how the corals’ microbiomes changed over time. They discovered that the McH1-7 probiotic successfully slowed the spread of SCTLD when delivered to the entire colony through the bag and solution method. This probiotic treatment method was effective without dominating the corals’ natural microbes.
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Hunter Noren.
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