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Prevalence of virus-like particles within a staghorn scleractinian coral (Acropora muricata) from the Great Barrier Reef

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Abstract

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to determine whether Acropora muricata coral colonies from the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Australia, harboured virus-like particles (VLPs). VLPs were present in all coral colonies sampled at Heron Island (southern GBR) and in tagged coral colonies sampled in at least two of the three sampling periods at Lizard Island (northern GBR). VLPs were observed within gastrodermal and epidermal tissues, and on rarer occasions, within the mesoglea. These VLPs had similar morphologies to known prokaryotic and eukaryotic viruses in other systems. Icosahedral VLPs were observed most frequently, however, filamentous VLPs (FVLPs) and phage were also noted. There were no clear differences in VLP size, morphology or location within the tissues with respect to sample date, coral health status or site. The most common VLP morphotype exhibited icosahedral symmetry, 120–150 nm in diameter, with an electron-dense core and an electronlucent membrane. Larger VLPs of similar morphology were also common. VLPs occurred as single entities, in groups, or in dense clusters, either as free particles within coral tissues, or within membrane-bound vacuoles. VLPs were commonly observed within the perinuclear region, with mitochondria, golgi apparatus and crescent-shaped particles frequently observed within close proximity. The host(s) of these observed VLPs was not clear; however, the different sizes and morphologies of VLPs observed within A. muricata tissues suggest that viruses are infecting either the coral animal, zooxanthellae, intracellular bacteria and/or other coral-associated microbiota, or that the one host is susceptible to infection from more than one type of virus. These results add to the limited but emerging body of evidence that viruses represent another potentially important component of the coral holobiont.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a Lizard Island Doctoral Fellowship, a NANOtap award and Southern Cross University postgraduate funding to N.L. Patten, Australian Research Council funding to J.G Mitchell and Southern Cross University funding to P.L. Harrison. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Centre of Microscopy and Microanalysis at the University of Queensland for assistance with electron microscopy. Special thanks to J. Davy, A. Carroll, R. Reef and C. Damiano for assistance in the field and to three anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coral Reef Research Centre, School of Environmental Science and Management, Southern Cross University, GPO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480, Australia

    N. L. Patten & P. L. Harrison

  2. School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA, 5001, Australia

    N. L. Patten & J. G. Mitchell

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  1. N. L. Patten
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  2. P. L. Harrison
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Correspondence to N. L. Patten.

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Patten, N.L., Harrison, P.L. & Mitchell, J.G. Prevalence of virus-like particles within a staghorn scleractinian coral (Acropora muricata) from the Great Barrier Reef. Coral Reefs 27, 569–580 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-008-0356-9

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