@article {464,
	title = {Microbial diseases of corals and global warming},
	journal = {Environmental Microbiology},
	volume = {4},
	year = {2002},
	abstract = {<p>Coral bleaching and other diseases of corals have increased dramatically  during the last few decades. As outbreaks of these diseases are highly  correlated with increased sea-water temperature, one of the consequences  of global warming will probably be mass destruction of coral reefs. The  causative agent(s) of a few of these diseases have been reported:  bleaching of Oculina patagonica by Vibrio shiloi; black band disease by a  microbial consortium; sea-fan disease (aspergillosis) by Aspergillus  sydowii; and coral white plague possibly by Sphingomonas sp. In  addition, we have recently discovered that Vibrio coralyticus is the  aetiological agent for bleaching the coral Pocillopora damicornis in the  Red Sea. In the case of coral bleaching by V. shiloi, the major effect  of increasing temperature is the expression of virulence genes by the  pathogen. At high summer sea-water temperatures, V. shiloi produces an  adhesin that allows it to adhere to a b- galactoside-containing receptor  in the coral mucus, penetrate into the coral epidermis, multiply  intracellularly, differentiate into a viable-but-not-culturable (VBNC)  state and produce toxins that inhibit photosynthesis and lyse the  symbiotic zooxanthellae. In black band disease, sulphide is produced at  the coral-microbial biofilm interface, which is probably responsible for  tissue death. Reports of newly emerging coral diseases and the lack of  epidemiological and biochemical information on the known diseases  indicate that this will become a fertile area of research in the  interface between microbial ecology and infectious disease.</p>},
	keywords = {Aspergillus sydowii, bleaching, climate change, coral, coral reef, disease, global warming, Mediterranean sea, Oculina patagonica, pathogen, photosynthesis, Red Sea, research, sea water, sea water temperature, Sphingomonas sp., temperature, Vibrio corallilyticus, Vibrio sp., warming, zooxanthellae},
	author = {E. Rosenberg and Y. Ben-Halm}
}
