''Aurantimonas coralicida'' is a

gram-negative bacterium Gram-negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain the crystal violet stain used in the Gram staining method of bacterial differentiation. They are characterized by their cell envelopes, which are composed of a thin peptidoglycan cell wall ...

, and a causative agent of white plague in Caribbean corals. It is rod-shaped, with polar

flagella A flagellum (; ) is a hairlike appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many protists with flagella are termed as flagellates. A microorganism may have f ...

Description

An obligate aerobe, ''A. coralicida'' obtains its nourishment

chemoheterotroph A Chemotroph is an organism that obtains energy by the oxidation of electron donors in their environments. These molecules can be organic molecule, organic (chemoorganotrophs) or inorganic compound, inorganic (chemolithotrophs). The chemotroph de ...

ically. It tests positive for

oxidase In biochemistry, an oxidase is an enzyme that catalyzes oxidation-reduction reactions, especially one involving dioxygen (O2) as the electron acceptor. In reactions involving donation of a hydrogen atom, oxygen is reduced to water (H2O) or hydro ...

and

catalase Catalase is a common enzyme found in nearly all living organisms exposed to oxygen (such as bacteria, plants, and animals) which catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. It is a very important enzyme in protecting t ...

, and contains

carotenoid Carotenoids (), also called tetraterpenoids, are yellow, orange, and red organic compound, organic pigments that are produced by plants and algae, as well as several bacteria, and Fungus, fungi. Carotenoids give the characteristic color to pumpki ...

pigments, possibly to protect against solar radiation.

Role in Disease

''A. coralicida'' is believed to be the causative agent of white plague, a disease of some corals. This was first described in 1995 in an

epizootic In epizoology, an epizootic (from Greek: ''epi-'' upon + ''zoon'' animal) is a disease event in a nonhuman animal population analogous to an epidemic in humans. An epizootic may be restricted to a specific locale (an "outbreak"), general (an "epi ...

in reefs in the

Florida Keys The Florida Keys are a coral cay archipelago located off the southern coast of Florida, forming the southernmost part of the continental United States. They begin at the southeastern coast of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and e ...

. 17 of 43 coral species in the area were infected, and up to 38% of infected corals died.

Genetics

The

type strain The International Code of Nomenclature of Prokaryotes (ICNP) formerly the International Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria (ICNB) or Bacteriological Code (BC) governs the scientific names for Bacteria and Archaea.P. H. A. Sneath, 2003. A short histor ...

of ''A. coralicida'' is WP1^T(=CIP 107386^T =DSM 14790^T), which was the original strain isolated.

History

''A coralicida'' was originally isolated as the cause of white plague in coral in the Caribbean in 1998. In 2003, the

16S rRNA 16S rRNA may refer to: * 16S ribosomal RNA 16 S ribosomal RNA (or 16 S rRNA) is the RNA component of the 30S subunit of a prokaryotic ribosome ( SSU rRNA). It binds to the Shine-Dalgarno sequence and provides most of the SSU structure. The g ...

sequence of the bacterium was compared to other known sequences to determine its taxonomic relationship to other bacteria. It was found to be a previously undescribed member of the

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Hyphomicrobiales The ''Hyphomicrobiales'' are an order of Gram-negative Alphaproteobacteria. The rhizobia, which fix nitrogen and are symbiotic with plant roots, appear in several different families. The four families ''Nitrobacteraceae'', ''Hyphomicrobiaceae' ...

and was classified under the newly created genus ''

Aurantimonas ''Aurantimonas'' is a genus of bacteria from the family of Aurantimonadaceae The ''Aurantimonadaceae'' are a small family of marine bacteria. Notable Species '' Aurantimonas coralicida'' causes a white plague in corals. '' Fulvimarina pela ...

'' as ''Aurantimonas coralicida''.

References

External links