Mussismilia braziliensis White Plague Disease Is Characterized by an Affected Coral Immune System and Dysbiosis.

Infectious diseases are one of the major drivers of coral reef decline worldwide. White plague-like disease (WPL) is a widespread disease with a complex etiology that infects several coral species, including the Brazilian endemic species Mussismilia braziliensis. Gene expression profiles of healthy and WPL-affected M. braziliensis were analyzed in winter and summer seasons. The de novo assembly of the M. braziliensis transcriptome from healthy and white plague samples produced a reference transcriptome containing 119,088 transcripts. WPL-diseased samples were characterized by repression of immune system and cellular defense processes. Autophagy and cellular adhesion transcripts were also repressed in WPL samples, suggesting exhaustion of the coral host defenses. Seasonal variation leads to plasticity in transcription with upregulation of intracellular signal transduction, apoptosis regulation, and oocyte development in the summer. Analysis of the active bacterial rRNA indicated that Pantoea bacteria were more abundant in WPL corals, while Tistlia, Fulvivirga, and Gammaproteobacteria Ga0077536 were more abundant in healthy samples. Cyanobacteria proliferation was also observed in WPL, mostly in the winter. These results indicate a scenario of dysbiosis in WPL-affected M. braziliensis, with the loss of potentially symbiotic bacteria and proliferation of opportunistic microbes after the start of the infection process.

Spatial Clustering of Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) and Its Impact on Entomological Surveillance Indicators.

Spatial clustering of Aedes aegypti (L.) was assessed in 0.25-km2 sampling plots located in three different neighborhoods in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Monitoring was carried out with two oviposition traps (collecting either. eggs or adult mosquitoes) over a consecutive 80-wk period. Taylor power laws (TPL) were used to assess clustering in both adult and egg collections. The clustering level observed in both TPL models was sufficient to increase by two to three times the sampling effort required to achieve a desired precision of population estimates of egg and adults collections, respectively. The relationship between positivity and density indices was also affected by this clustering level, and virtually no changes in positivity data were observed for variations of adult densities over two mosquitoes per trap. General TPL model parameterizations for dealing with clustering of egg and adult populations of Ae. aegypti are proposed. Accounting for clustering-related issues is necessary for an appropriate design and interpretation of trap-based entomological surveillance data.