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1. Alphaflexivirus Genomes in Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease-Affected, Disease-Exposed, and Disease-Unexposed Coral Colonies in the U.S. Virgin Islands

   https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.01199-21  

   Veglia, A. J.; Beavers, K.; Van Buren, E.; Meiling, S. S.; Muller, E. M.; Smith, T. B.; Holstein, D. M.; Apprill, A.; Brandt, M. E.; Mydlarz, L. D.; et al (February 2022, Microbiology resource announcements)

   Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is decimating Caribbean corals. Here, through the metatranscriptomic assembly and annotation of two alphaflexivirus-like strains, we provide genomic evidence of filamentous viruses in SCTLD-affected, -exposed, and -unexposed coral colonies. These data will assist in clarifying the roles of viruses in SCTLD. 

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2. Alphaflexivirus Genomes in Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease-Affected, Disease-Exposed, and Disease-Unexposed Coral Colonies in the U.S. Virgin Islands

   https://doi.org/10.1128/mra.01199-21  

   Veglia, A. J.; Beavers, K.; Van Buren, E. W.; Meiling, S. S.; Muller, E. M.; Smith, T. B.; Holstein, D. M.; Apprill, A.; Brandt, M. E.; Mydlarz, L. D.; et al (February 2022, Microbiology Resource Announcements)

   Matthijnssens, Jelle (Ed.)

   ABSTRACT Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) is decimating Caribbean corals. Here, through the metatranscriptomic assembly and annotation of two alphaflexivirus-like strains, we provide genomic evidence of filamentous viruses in SCTLD-affected, -exposed, and -unexposed coral colonies. These data will assist in clarifying the roles of viruses in SCTLD. 

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3. Stony coral tissue loss disease indirectly alters reef communities

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adk6808  

   Swaminathan, Sara D; Lafferty, Kevin D; Knight, Nicole S; Altieri, Andrew H (May 2024, Science Advances)

   Many Caribbean coral reefs are near collapse due to various threats. An emerging threat, stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), is spreading across the Western Atlantic and Caribbean. Data from the U.S. Virgin Islands reveal how SCTLD spread has reduced the abundance of susceptible coral and crustose coralline algae and increased cyanobacteria, fire coral, and macroalgae. A Caribbean-wide structural equation model demonstrates versatility in reef fish and associations with rugosity independent of live coral. Model projections suggest that some reef fishes will decline due to SCTLD, with the largest changes on reefs that lose the most susceptible corals and rugosity. Mapping these projected declines in space indicates how the indirect effects of SCTLD range from undetectable to devastating. 

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4. Stony coral tissue loss disease induces transcriptional signatures of in situ degradation of dysfunctional Symbiodiniaceae

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38612-4  

   Beavers, Kelsey M.; Van Buren, Emily W.; Rossin, Ashley M.; Emery, Madison A.; Veglia, Alex J.; Karrick, Carly E.; MacKnight, Nicholas J.; Dimos, Bradford A.; Meiling, Sonora S.; Smith, Tyler B.; et al (December 2023, Nature Communications)

   Abstract Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), one of the most pervasive and virulent coral diseases on record, affects over 22 species of reef-building coral and is decimating reefs throughout the Caribbean. To understand how different coral species and their algal symbionts (family Symbiodiniaceae) respond to this disease, we examine the gene expression profiles of colonies of five species of coral from a SCTLD transmission experiment. The included species vary in their purported susceptibilities to SCTLD, and we use this to inform gene expression analyses of both the coral animal and their Symbiodiniaceae. We identify orthologous coral genes exhibiting lineage-specific differences in expression that correlate to disease susceptibility, as well as genes that are differentially expressed in all coral species in response to SCTLD infection. We find that SCTLD infection induces increased expression of rab7 , an established marker of in situ degradation of dysfunctional Symbiodiniaceae, in all coral species accompanied by genus-level shifts in Symbiodiniaceae photosystem and metabolism gene expression. Overall, our results indicate that SCTLD infection induces symbiophagy across coral species and that the severity of disease is influenced by Symbiodiniaceae identity. 

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5. Diversity and disease: The effects of coral diversity on prevalence and impacts of stony coral tissue loss disease in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.682688  

   Costa, S. V.; Hibberts, S. J.; Olive, D. A.; Budd, K. A.; Long, A. E.; Meiling, S. S.; Miller, M. B.; Vaughn, K. M.; Carrion, C. I.; Cohen, M. B.; et al (June 2021, Frontiers in marine science)

   Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) in January 2019. This disease affects at least 20 scleractinian coral species; however, it is not well understood how reef diversity affects its spread or its impacts on reef ecosystems. With a large number of susceptible species, SCTLD may not follow the diversity-disease hypothesis, which proposes that high species diversity is negatively correlated with disease prevalence. Instead, SCTLD may have a higher prevalence and a greater impact on reefs with higher coral diversity. To test this, in 2020 we resampled 54 sites around St. Thomas previously surveyed in 2017 or 2019 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Coral Reef Monitoring Program. These sites represented a variety of species diversity values [categorized into poor (<12 spp. rich.) and rich (12 spp. rich.)] in multiple disease zones (Endemic: disease present  9 months; Epidemic: disease present 2–6 months; Control and Emergent: disease present no disease/<2 months). We hypothesized that, contrary to the diversity-disease hypothesis, sites with high species diversity (as measured by species richness or Simpson’s index) would have higher disease prevalence within the epidemic zone, and that high species diversity sites would have a greater impact from disease within the endemic zone. Results indicated a significant positive relationship between disease prevalence and diversity in the epidemic zone, and a similar trend in the endemic zones. Additionally, a negative relationship was seen between pre-outbreak diversity and loss of diversity and coral cover within the endemic zone. This supports the hypothesis that higher diversity predicts greater disease impact and suggests that SCTLD does not follow the diversity-disease hypothesis. Within the epidemic zone, the species with the highest SCTLD prevalence were Dendrogyra cylindrus, Colpophyllia natans, and Meandrina meandrites, while in the endemic zone, Diploria labyrinthiformis, Pseudodiploria strigosa, Montastraea cavernosa, and Siderastrea siderea had the highest SCTLD prevalence. Understanding the relationship between species diversity and SCTLD will help managers predict the most vulnerable reefs, which should be prioritized within the USVI and greater Caribbean region. 

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