Sunscreens cause coral bleaching by promoting viral infections
Open accessAbstract
Background: Coral bleaching (i.e., the release of coral symbiotic zooxanthellae) has negative impacts on biodiversity and functioning of reef ecosystems and their production of goods and services. This increasing world-wide phenomenon is associated with temperature anomalies, high irradiance, pollution, and bacterial diseases. Recently, it has been demonstrated that personal care products, including sunscreens, have an impact on aquatic organisms similar to that of other contaminants. Objectives: Our goal was to evaluate the potential impact of sunscreen ingredients on hard corals and their symbiotic algae. Methods: In situ and laboratory experiments were conducted in several tropical regions (the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, and the Red Sea) by supplementing coral branches with aliquots of sunscreens and common ultraviolet filters contained in sunscreen formula. Zooxanthellae were checked for viral infection by epifluorescence and transmission electron microscopy analyses. Results: Sunscreens cause the rapid and complete bleaching of hard corals, even at extremely low concentrations. The effect of sunscreens is due to organic ultraviolet filters, which are able to induce the lytic viral cycle in symbiotic zooxanthellae with latent infections. Conclusions: We conclude that sunscreens, by promoting viral infection, potentially play an important role in coral bleaching in areas prone to high levels of recreational use by humans.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Viral infections caused by UV filters may play a significant role in coral bleaching.
“Additionally, viral infections caused by UV filters may play a significant role in coral bleaching [92].”
From UV Filters: Challenges and Prospects (2022) · cites this paper as [92]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
No citation lists for this paper
No citation lists for this paper yet — checked again daily.
References 35 · Cited by 611
Research works printed but not linked: 29
- Brown BE 2000 The significance of pollution in eliciting the “bleaching” response in symbiotic cnidarians Int J Environ Pollut 13 392 415 10.1504/IJEP.2000.002328 · DOI
- Brown BE Dunne RP Goodson MS Douglas AE 2000 Marine ecology: bleaching patterns in reef corals Nature 404 142 143 10.1038/35004657 [Online 9 March 2000] 10724156 · DOI
- Bruno JF Selig ER Casey KS Page CA Willis BL Harvell CD 2007 Thermal stress and coral cover as drivers of coral disease outbreaks PLoS Biol 5 6 1220 1227 10.1371/journal.pbio.0050124 [Online 8 May 2007] PMC1865563 17488183 · DOI
- Brussard CPD 2004 Viral control of phytoplankton populations—a review J Eukaryot Microbiol 51 125 138 10.1111/j.1550-7408.2004.tb00537.x [Online 11 July 2005] 15134247 · DOI · Paper page
- Cochran PK Kellogg CA Paul JH 1998 Prophage induction of indigenous marine lysogenic bacteria by environmental pollutants Mar Ecol Prog Ser 164 125 133 10.3354/meps164125 [Online 9 April 1998] · DOI
- Danovaro R Corinaldesi C 2003 Sunscreen products increase virus production through prophage induction in marine bacterioplankton Microb Ecol 45 2 109 118 10.1007/s00248-002-1033-0 [Online 2 February 2003] 12545312 · DOI
- Daughton CG Ternes TA 1999 Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment: agents of subtle change? Environ Health Perspect 107 suppl 6 907 938 10.2307/3434573 10592150 PMC1566206 · DOI
- Davy SK Burchett SG Dale AL Davies P Davy JE Muncke C 2006 Viruses: agents of coral disease? Dis Aquat Org 69 101 110 10.3354/dao069101 [Online 23 March 2006] 16703772 · DOI
- Douglas AE 2003 Coral bleaching—how and why? Mar Poll Bull 46 4 385 392 10.1016/S0025-326X(03)00037-7 [Online 20 March 2003] 12705909 · DOI
- Fuhrman JA 1999 Virus in the environment: biogeochemical and ecological effects Nature 399 541 547 10.1038/21119 10376593 · DOI
- Giokas DL Salvador A Chisvert A 2007 UV filters: from sun-screens to human body and the environment Trends Anal Chem 26 5 360 374 10.1016/j.trac.2007.02.012 [Online 14 March 2007] · DOI
- Glynn PW 1996 Coral reef bleaching: facts, hypotheses and implications Global Change Biology 2 6 495 509 10.1111/j.1365-2486.1996.tb00063.x · DOI
- Helton RR Liu L Wommack KE 2006 Assessment of factors influencing direct enumeration of viruses within estuarine sediments Appl Environ Microbiol 72 7 4767 4774 10.1128/AEM.00297-06 [Online July 2006] 16820470 PMC1489380 · DOI
- Hughes TP Baird AH Bellwood DR Card M Connolly SR 2003 Climate change, human impacts, and the resilience of coral reefs Science 301 5635 929 933 10.1126/science.1085046 [Online 15 August 2003] 12920289 · DOI
- Jang SC Paul JH 1996 Occurrence of lysogenic bacteria in marine microbial community as determined by prophage induction Mar Ecol Prog Ser 142 27 38 10.3354/meps142027 [Online 24 October 1996] · DOI
- Jones RJ 2004 Testing the ‘photoinhibition’ model of coral bleaching using chemical inhibitors Mar Ecol Prog Ser 284 133 145 10.3354/meps284133 [Online 21 December 2004] · DOI
- Knowlton N 2001 The future of coral reefs Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98 10 5419 5425 10.1073/pnas.091092998 [Online 8 May 2001] 11344288 PMC33228 · DOI
- Lohr J Munn CB Wilson WH 2007 Characterization of a latent virus-like infection of symbiotic zooxanthellae Appl Environ Microbiol 73 9 2976 2981 10.1128/AEM.02449-06 [Online March 2007] 17351090 PMC1892877 · DOI
- Mise T Hidaka M 2003 Degradation of zooxanthellae in the coral Acropora nasuta during bleaching Galaxea JCRS 5 33 39 10.1016/S0921-8009(99)00009-9 · DOI
- Moberg F Folke C 1999 Ecological goods and services of coral reef ecosystems Ecol Econ 29 2 215 233 10.1016/S0921-8009(99)00009-9 · DOI
- Pandolfi JM Bradbury RH Sala E Hughes TP Bjorndal KA Cooke RG 2003 Global trajectories of the long term decline of coral reef ecosystems Science 5635 301 955 958 10.1126/science.1085706 [Online 15 August 2003] 12920296 · DOI
- Poiger T Buser HR Balmer ME Bergqvist P-A Müller MD 2004 Occurrence of UV filter compounds from sunscreens in surface waters: regional mass balance in two Swiss lakes Chemosphere 55 7 951 963 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2004.01.012 [Online May 2004] 15051365 · DOI
- Rosenberg E Koren O Reshef L Efrony R Zilber-Rosenberg I 2007 The role of microorganisms in coral health, disease and evolution Nature Rev 5 355 362 10.1038/nrmicro1635 [Online May 2007] 17384666 · DOI
- Schlumpf M Schmid P Durrer S Conscience M Maerkel K 2004 Endocrine activity and developmental toxicity of cosmetic UV filters-an update Toxicology 205 113 122 10.1016/j.tox.2004.06.043 [Online 1 December 2004] 15458796 · DOI · Paper page
- Shaath NA Shaath M Shaath NA 2005 Recent sunscreen market trends Sunscreens, Regulations and Commercial Development 3 Boca Raton, FL Taylor & Francis 929 940
- Shibata A Goto Y Saito H Kikuchi T Toda T Taguchi S 2006 Comparison of SYBR Green I and SYBR Gold stains for enumerating bacteria and viruses by epifluorescence microscopy Aquat Microb Ecol 43 3 223 231 10.3354/ame043223 [Online 19 July 2006] · DOI
- Siebeck UE Marshall NJ Klüter A Hoegh-Guldberg O 2006 Monitoring coral bleaching using a colour reference card Coral Reefs 25 3 453 460 10.1007/s00338-006-0123-8 [Online 13 June 2006] · DOI
- Suttle CA 2005 Viruses in the sea Nature 437 356 361 10.1038/nature04160 [Online 15 September 2005] 16163346 · DOI
- Wen K Ortmann AC Suttle CA 2004 Accurate estimation of viral abundance by epifluorescence microscopy Appl Environ Microbiol 7087 3862 3867 10.1128/AEM.70.7.3862-3867.2004 [Online July 2004] 15240256 PMC444834 · DOI
- Authors
- Danovaro, R., Bongiorni, L., Corinaldesi, C., Giovannelli, D., Damiani, E., Astolfi, P., Greci, L., & Pusceddu, A.
- Affiliations
- Marche Polytechnic University (IT)
- Department of Marine Sciences
- Institute of Biochemistry and
- Corresponding author
- Danovaro, Roberto
- ORCID
- Venue
- Environmental Health Perspectives
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2008-01-03
- Volume
- 116
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 441-447
- ISSN
- 0091-6765 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-9924
- PMC
- PMC2291018
- OpenAlex
- W2032547665
- Cited by
- 611
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 43 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 70 · 2022: 55 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 57 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 33 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 9.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- public-domain
- creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (vor, 3648 d)
- Locations
- Environmental Health Perspectives (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Università Politecnica delle Marche (Università Politecnica delle Marche) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Commission
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Keywords
- sunscreen, coral bleaching, Scleractinia, zooxanthellae, viral infection, UV filters, coral symbiosis, personal care products, marine pollution, recreational use, reef ecosystems
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid, Dose-Response Relationship, Drug, Oceans and Seas, Sunscreening Agents, Symbiosis, Anthozoa, Eukaryota
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
