ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9416-7754
Current Organisations
University of Tokyo
,
University of Miyazaki
,
Nina Yasuda
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Publisher: Bulletin of Marine Science
Date: 2014
Publisher: Bulletin of Marine Science
Date: 2014
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 25-09-2012
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 23-11-2015
DOI: 10.1038/SREP16885
Abstract: Coral reefs are in decline worldwide due to a combination of local and global causes. Over 40% of the recent coral loss on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has been attributed to outbreaks of the coral-eating Crown-of-Thorns Seastar (CoTS). Testing of the hypotheses explaining these outbreaks is h ered by an inability to investigate the spatio-temporal distribution of larvae because they resemble other planktotrophic echinoderm larvae. We developed a genetic marker and tested it on 48 plankton s les collected during the 2014 spawning season in the northern GBR and verified the method by PCR lification of single larva. Surprisingly, most s les collected contained CoTS larvae. Larvae were detected 100 km south of current outbreaks of adult seastars, highlighting the potential for rapid expansion of the outbreak. A minimum estimate suggested that larvae numbers in the outbreak area ( 10 ) are about 4 orders of magnitude higher than adults (~10 6 ) in the same area, implying that attempts to halt outbreaks by removing adults may be futile.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 24-08-2020
DOI: 10.1186/S40168-020-00880-3
Abstract: Population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish ( Acanthaster planci sensu lato COTS), a primary predator of reef-building corals in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, are a major threat to coral reefs. While biological and ecological knowledge of COTS has been accumulating since the 1960s, little is known about its associated bacteria. The aim of this study was to provide fundamental information on the dominant COTS-associated bacteria through a multifaceted molecular approach. A total of 205 COTS in iduals from 17 locations throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean were examined for the presence of COTS-associated bacteria. We conducted 16S rRNA metabarcoding of COTS to determine the bacterial profiles of different parts of the body and generated a full-length 16S rRNA gene sequence from a single dominant bacterium, which we designated COTS27. We performed phylogenetic analysis to determine the taxonomy, screening of COTS27 across the Indo-Pacific, FISH to visualize it within the COTS tissues, and reconstruction of the bacterial genome from the hologenome sequence data. We discovered that a single bacterium exists at high densities in the subcuticular space in COTS forming a biofilm-like structure between the cuticle and the epidermis. COTS27 belongs to a clade that presumably represents a distinct order (so-called marine spirochetes) in the phylum Spirochaetes and is universally present in COTS throughout the Indo-Pacific Ocean. The reconstructed genome of COTS27 includes some genetic traits that are probably linked to adaptation to marine environments and evolution as an extracellular endosymbiont in subcuticular spaces. COTS27 can be found in three allopatric COTS species, ranging from the northern Red Sea to the Pacific, implying that the symbiotic relationship arose before the speciation events (approximately 2 million years ago). The universal association of COTS27 with COTS and nearly mono-specific association at least with the Indo-Pacific COTS provides a useful model system for studying symbiont-host interactions in marine invertebrates and may have applications for coral reef conservation.
No related grants have been discovered for Nina Yasuda.