Systems Biology Commons^™

Effects Of Temperature, Nutrients, Organic Matter And Coral Mucus On The Survival Of The Coral Pathogen, Serratia Marcescens, Erin Looney, Kathryn Sutherland, Erin Lipp

Kathryn Patterson Sutherland PhD

Serratia marcescens is an enteric bacterium that causes white pox disease in elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata; however, it remains unclear if the pathogenic strain has adapted to seawater or if it requires a host or reservoir for survival. To begin to address this fundamental issue, the persistence of strain PDL100 was compared among seawater and coral mucus microcosms. Median survival time across all conditions ranged from a low of 15 h in natural seawater [with a first-order decay constant (k) = −0.173] at 30°C to a maximum of 120 h in glucose-amended A. palmata mucus (k = −0.029) at 30°C. …