Non Metric Multidimensional scaling (MDS) plots.

<p>(a) shows changes in 16S rRNA gene bacterial communities between healthy (H), apparently healthy (AH) and three different sized disease lesions; Small Disease Lesion (S-DL), Medium Disease Lesion (M-DL) and Large Disease lesions (L-DL) from corals showing signs of Dark Spot Syndrome. (b-f) MDS bubble plots of a subset of bacterial ribotypes derived from SIMPER analysis which gives the ribotypes offering the greatest differences or similarities between sample types.</p

<i>Stephanocoenia intersepta</i> showing Dark Spots Syndrome.

<p>(a) shows a heavily infested colony with variable sizes of dark spots, (S) is classed as a small spot and (M) classed as a medium spot, (b) shows the characteristic dead tissue which follows this syndrome usually associated with larger spots (L), (AH)  =  Apparently Healthy tissues sampled for direct comparisons to the diseased lesions, and (c) is a reference shot of the terrestrial plant disease known as Tar Spot caused by the fungal pathogen <i>Rhytisma acernium</i>, the same pathogen of which was isolated from DSS lesions and absent in healthy tissues.</p

Bar chart illustrating 16S rRNA gene bacterial clone libraries separated into class from replicate samples of Healthy, Apparently Healthy, and Diseased <i>Stephanocoenia intersepta</i> showing signs of Dark Spot Syndrome.

<p>Bar chart illustrating 16S rRNA gene bacterial clone libraries separated into class from replicate samples of Healthy, Apparently Healthy, and Diseased <i>Stephanocoenia intersepta</i> showing signs of Dark Spot Syndrome.</p

Heatmap showing replicate 16S rRNA gene clone libraries of Healthy (H), Apparently Healthy (AH), Small Disease Lesion (S-DL), Medium Disease Lesion (M-DL) and Large Disease lesions (L-DL) from corals showing signs of Dark Spot Syndrome.

<p>Heatmap showing replicate 16S rRNA gene clone libraries of Healthy (H), Apparently Healthy (AH), Small Disease Lesion (S-DL), Medium Disease Lesion (M-DL) and Large Disease lesions (L-DL) from corals showing signs of Dark Spot Syndrome.</p

Determination of <i>Philaster</i> sp presence.

<p>PCR product check using <i>Philaster</i> sp specific primers (BrB-F-171 and BrB-R-1721) on healthy (H), sloughed tissue (ST), untreated (WSU) and treated WS (WST) samples, carried out using gel electrophoresis on a 1% agarose gel. P indicates bands representing <i>Philaster</i> sp. presence.</p

Heat-map representing the relative abundance of identified (GenBank ID) bacteria and archaea taxa associated with H, ST, UWS and TWS samples.

<p>Identification and sequence similarity was based on 161 bp sequences obtained from excised denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) bands. Relative abundance values are of scaled arbitrary units, based on relative density of DGGE bands in BioNumerics (3.5) analysis. Absence of a particular band is represented by a zero.</p

Ciliate 18S rRNA analysis of <i>Echinopora lamellosa</i> samples.

<p>Ciliate 18S rRNA gene fingerprints (represented on Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis) of healthy (H), sloughed tissue (ST), untreated (WSU) and treated WS (WST) samples. M = marker lane.</p

Antimicrobial activity of apparently healthy and White Syndrome-affected <i>Echinopora lamellosa</i> samples.

<p>Antimicrobial activity of apparently healthy and White Syndrome-affected <i>Echinopora lamellosa</i> samples.</p

Bacterial abundance of <i>Echinopora lamellosa</i> samples.

<p>Mean bacterial abundance for apparently healthy (H), untreated White Syndrome-affected (WSU) and treated White Syndrome-affected (WST) <i>Echinopora lamellosa</i> samples. Error bars represent SE.</p

Neighbour-joining consensus tree of partial 18S rRNA gene sequences of 4 ciliate species found in <i>Echinopora lamellosa</i> samples affected by White Syndrome in this aquarium experiment.

<p>Sequence alignment was carried out using MUSCLE and the neighbour-joining tree was constructed in TreeDyn (via phylogeny.fr), using the Tamura genetic distance model [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0121780#pone.0121780.ref040" target="_blank">40</a>] with an opalinid protist; <i>Opalina ranarum</i> (AF141970) as the outgroup, as used by Sweet and Bythell [<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0121780#pone.0121780.ref018" target="_blank">18</a>]</p