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Cause of sea fan death in the West Indies

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Abstract

A fungus from the genus Aspergillus is the probable agent of epizootic infections that have caused mass mortality of sea fan corals (Gorgonia ventalina) over the past 15 years1,2. Here we show that four strains of the fungus involved in these infections are members of the species Aspergillus sydowii, a common saprobe (an organism that lives on decaying matter) that is found in both terrestrial and marine environments. Isolates of A. sydowii taken from diseased sea fans caused new infections of sea fans in inoculation experiments, whereas isolates taken from elsewhere did not.

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Figure 1
Figure 2: Parsimony phylogenetic analysis of sequences from the 5′ non-translated region of the trpC gene.

References

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Author notes

  1. Garriet W. Smith

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of South Carolina-Aiken, Aiken, 29801, South Carolina, USA

  2. David M. Geiser

    Present address: Department of Plant Pathology, 204 Buckhout Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    John W. Taylor

  2. Biology Department, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 27599, North Carolina, USA

    Kim B. Ritchie

Authors
  1. David M. Geiser
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  2. John W. Taylor
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  3. Kim B. Ritchie
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  4. Garriet W. Smith
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Geiser, D., Taylor, J., Ritchie, K. et al. Cause of sea fan death in the West Indies. Nature 394, 137–138 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/28079

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