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Phage Therapy of Coral White Plague Disease: Properties of Phage BA3

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Abstract

The bacteriophage BA3 multiplies in and lyses the coral pathogen Thalassomonas loyana. The complete genome of phage BA3 was sequenced; it contains 47 open reading frames with a 40.9% G + C content. Phage BA3 adsorbed to its starved host in seawater with a k = 1.0 × 10−6 phage ml−1 min−1. Phage therapy of coral disease in aquarium experiments was successful when the phage was added at the same time as the pathogen or 1 day later, but failed to protect the coral when added 2 days after bacterial infection. When the phages were added 1 day after coral infection, the phage titer increased about 100-fold and remained present in the aquarium water throughout the 37-day experiment. At the end of the experiment, the concentration of phages associated with the corals was 2.5 ± 0.5 × 104 per cm2 of coral surface. Corals that were infected with the pathogen and treated with phage did not transmit the disease to healthy corals.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by grants from the Israel Center for the Study of Emerging Diseases, the Israel Science Foundation, and the World Bank Coral Disease and Bleaching Groups.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Microbiology & Biotechnology, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69978, Israel

    Rotem Efrony, Ilil Atad & Eugene Rosenberg

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  1. Rotem Efrony
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  2. Ilil Atad
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  3. Eugene Rosenberg
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Correspondence to Eugene Rosenberg.

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Efrony, R., Atad, I. & Rosenberg, E. Phage Therapy of Coral White Plague Disease: Properties of Phage BA3. Curr Microbiol 58, 139–145 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-008-9290-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-008-9290-x

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