A great star coral (Montastraea cavernosa) colony infected with stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) on the coral reef in Fort Lauderdale, FL. The lesion, where the white band of tissue occurs, typically moves across the coral, killing coral tissue along the way.
In 2023, Smithsonian scientists and their collaborators published a study about the probiotic Pseudoalteromonas sp. McH1-7 from M. cavernosa, which produces several different antibacterial compounds. This comprehensive antibacterial toolbox made McH1-7 an ideal candidate to combat a versatile pathogen like SCTLD. The research team initially tested McH1-7 in the lab on live pieces of M. cavernosa. They discovered that the probiotic reliably prevented the spread of SCTLD. However, the team was eager to test McH1-7 on corals in the wild.
This great star coral colony was tagged, treated with probiotic strain McH1-7, and monitored for 2.5 years for tissue loss progression as part of a newly published study showing that the bacterial probiotic helps slow the spread of 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.
