What is it about?
Some bacteria naturally occurring on seaweed surfaces or in seaweed-seawater interface or within the seawater column can sometimes become opportunistic pathogens given the right condition such us exposure of the seaweeds to extreme environmental factors that make them susceptible to certain bacterial strains. This we have observed in at least two strains of Vibrio and Flavobacterium-Cytophaga complex isolated from ice-ice diseased thalli of Kappapphycus alvarezii which hastens the development of the disease when the seaweed is exposed to reduced salinity and light intensity.
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Why is it important?
We have shown that exposure of seaweeds to even a subtle change in culture conditions could slowly reduce the seaweed's ability to tolerate the presence of naturally occurring microbes (e.g. bacteria, fungi, virus, algal epiphytes), many of which are opportunistic ones, turning themselves into pathogens or parasites. This therefore requires rethinking the way seaweeds are being cultured in the field such as moving seaweed farms to deeper waters where conditions for growth are more stable than in shallow, more exposed sites.
Perspectives
This paper provided the scientific basis of the role of bacteria in the development of ice-ice disease when seaweeds are predisposed to extreme environmental factors.
Dr. Danilo Basnillo Largo
University of San Carlos
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Occasional pathogenic bacteria promoting ice-ice disease in the carrageenan-producing red algae Kappaphycus alvarezii and Eucheuma denticulatum (Solieriaceae, Gigartinales, Rhodophyta), Journal of Applied Phycology, December 1995, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/bf00003941.
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