smithsonian-research-reveals-probiotics-slow-spread-deadly-disease-decimating

Scientists with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History have discovered that a bacterial probiotic helps slow the spread of stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) in already infected wild corals in Florida. The findings, published today in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, reveal that applying the probiotic treatment across entire coral colonies helped prevent tissue loss.
The new treatment provides a viable alternative to antibiotics, which only offer temporary protection and also run the risk of creating resistant strains of SCTLD.
“The goal of using the probiotics is to get the corals to take up this beneficial bacterium and incorporate it into their natural microbiome,” said Valerie Paul, the head scientist at the Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Fla., who co-led the new study. “The probiotics then will provide a more lasting protection.”
SCTLD emerged in Florida in 2014 and has rapidly spread south throughout the Caribbean. Unlike other pathogens, which usually target specific species, SCTLD infects more than 30 different species of stony corals, including boulder-shaped brain corals and limb-like pillar corals. As it spreads, the disease causes the corals’ soft tissue to slough off, leaving behind white patches of exposed skeleton. In a matter of weeks to months, the disease can devastate an entire coral colony.