Blake Ushijima

Microcalorimetry reveals bacterial motility as an expensive trait during starvation

This study measures the energetic cost of bacterial motility using microcalorimetry and finds it to be a significant portion of total metabolism during starvation.

Widespread attraction of marine bacteria to the macroalgae-derived polysaccharide fucoidan

This study shows marine bacteria are attracted to fucoidan at high concentrations, suggesting it guides them to macroalgal surfaces, influencing carbon cycling.

Temperate and filamentous bacteriophages as reservoirs of bacterial virulence in stony coral tissue loss disease

The paper identifies bacteriophages in stony coral tissue loss disease that carry virulence genes, suggesting lysogenic conversion may contribute to bacterial pathogenesis in corals.

Phylogenetically distinct Vibrio mediterranei lineages confer robust protection under thermal stress against oyster pathogens

This study shows that specific Vibrio mediterranei lineages protect oyster larvae from pathogen-induced mortality under both ambient and thermal stress conditions.

Building the Marine Probiotic Platform: Developing a High-Throughput Process to Discover Coral Probiotics for Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease

This paper develops a high-throughput platform to isolate and screen coral probiotics for Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease using microfluidic sorting and fluorescent assays.

Multidisciplinary assessments of a potentially novel acute tissue loss disease on Florida Orbicella corals

The paper characterizes a novel coral disease in Florida Orbicella corals through multidisciplinary methods and defines it as Orbicella acute tissue loss disease.

Quorum Sensing Regulates Virulence Factors in the Coral Pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus

This study identifies an active quorum sensing pathway in Vibrio coralliilyticus that regulates virulence factors like proteases, biofilms, and type VI secretion systems.

A T6SS in the coral pathogen Vibrio coralliilyticus secretes an arsenal of anti-eukaryotic effectors and contributes to virulence

This study identifies two temperature-regulated T6SSs in Vibrio coralliilyticus, revealing their roles in bacterial competition and host toxicity, with T6SS2 secreting nine novel anti-eukaryotic toxins.

Metabolomics of healthy and stony coral tissue loss disease affected Montastraea cavernosa corals

The paper uses metabolomics to identify metabolic markers of stony coral tissue loss disease in Montastraea cavernosa, revealing differences between healthy, diseased, and recovered corals.