Award: OCE-1924145

Coral diseases like White Band Disease and Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease have devastated Caribbean coral reefs, making the ability to identify disease-resistant corals and the bacterial pathogens causing these diseases imperative. Our research used modern genomics coupled with tank-based infection experiments to identify disease-resistant staghorn corals, the White Band Disease pathogen, and the genes underlying coral disease resistance.

We identified 10 gene regions in endangered staghorn corals containing 73 genetic markers that explain 70 percent of disease resistance in wild populations, including five immune genes that help corals recognize and fight infection. These disease resistance genes allow us to identify disease-resistant corals with just a genetic test of 10 DNA markers - a breakthrough for coral restoration programs.

We used machine learning to compare hundreds of diseased and healthy corals and identified a bacterium called Cysteiniphilum as the primary pathogen and Vibrio bacteria as secondary opportunists. We also showed that pretreating corals with antibiotics prevents disease by suppressing opportunistic Vibrio infections.

The broader impacts of our research include new genetic methods to identify coral pathogens and disease-resistant super corals, a new staghorn coral genome, and novel machine learning methods to identify bacterial pathogens that can be extended to any host-pathogen system. This project trained over 80 undergraduate and graduate students, one postdoctoral researcher, four PhD students in coral biology and cutting-edge genomic techniques. The results of this research were disseminated to the public in high impact publications, press coverage and numerous public lectures.

 

Last Modified: 11/19/2025
Modified by: Steven Vollmer