scholarly journals Significant Differences in Intestinal Microbial Communities in Aquatic Animals from an Aquaculture Area

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Fulin Sun ◽  
Zhantang Xu

While much attention has been given to the role of animal intestinal microbes, few studies have focused on microbial communities and associated functions in cultured aquatic animals. In this study, high–throughput sequencing was used to analyze intestinal microbial communities and functions in fish, shrimp, crab and razor clams. Alpha diversity analyses showed significant differences in intestinal microbial diversity amongst these aquatic animals, and that shrimp intestines harbored the highest diversity and species numbers. T–test analyses (p < 0.05) showed significant differences in dominant microbial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) between all aquatic animals. Predominant intestinal bacteria included; Gammaproteobacteria, Fusobacteria, Mollicutes, Spirochaetia, Cyanobacteria, Bacteroidia and Bacilli. Similarly, anaerobic bacteria were highly diverse in animal intestines and included; Vibrio, Photobacterium, Cetobacterium, Propionigenium, Candidatus Hepatoplasma, Paraclostridium, and Lactobacillus. Principal co–ordinate analysis indicated that the distribution characteristics of intestinal microbes varied with animal species; in particular, we observed a high variability among shrimp intestinal samples. This variability indicated these genera had suitability for the different intestinal environment. Function prediction analysis indicated significant differences amongst different animals in the major functional groups, and that microbial functional profiles were strongly shaped by the intestinal environment. Thus, this study provides an important reference for future studies investigating crosstalk between aquatic animal hosts and their intestinal microbiota.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Zhangjun Shen ◽  
Jingjing Wang ◽  
Yajun Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Studies on the rhizosphere microbiome of various plants proved that rhizosphere microbiota carries out various vital functions and can regulate the growth and improve the yield of plants. However, the rhizosphere microbiome of commercial blueberry was only reported by a few studies and remains elusive. Comparison and interpretation of the characteristics of the rhizosphere microbiome of blueberry are critical important to maintain its health. Results In this study, a total of 20 rhizosphere soil samples, including 15 rhizosphere soil samples from three different blueberry varieties and five bulk soil samples, were sequenced with a high-throughput sequencing strategy. Based on these sequencing datasets, we profiled the taxonomical, functional, and phenotypic compositions of rhizosphere microbial communities for three different blueberry varieties and compared our results with a previous study focused on the rhizosphere microbiome of blueberry varieties. Our results demonstrated significant differences in alpha diversity and beta diversity of rhizosphere microbial communities of different blueberry varieties and bulk soil. The distribution patterns of taxonomical, functional, and phenotypic compositions of rhizosphere microbiome differ across the blueberry varieties. The rhizosphere microbial communities of three different blueberry varieties could be distinctly separated, and 28 discriminative biomarkers were selected to distinguish these three blueberry varieties. Core rhizosphere microbiota for blueberry was identified, and it contained 201 OTUs, which were mainly affiliated with Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria. Moreover, the interactions between OTUs of blueberry rhizosphere microbial communities were explored by a co-occurrence network of OTUs from an ecological perspective. Conclusions This pilot study explored the characteristics of blueberry’s rhizosphere microbial community, such as the beneficial microorganisms and core microbiome, and provided an integrative perspective on blueberry’s rhizosphere microbiome, which beneficial to blueberry health and production.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 1390
Author(s):  
Jingjing Gu ◽  
Lizhi Zhou

Intestinal microbes participate in life activities of the host, and are affected by external environmental factors. Different habitat sizes and protection status provide different external environmental selection pressures for the same wintering waterbirds, which may be reflected in their intestinal microbes. Hooded Cranes are vulnerable migratory waterbirds with similar numbers wintering at three different lakes in the middle and lower Yangtze River floodplain, Poyang, Caizi, and Shengjin Lakes. Here, we analyzed the characteristics of intestinal bacterial and fungal communities of Hooded Cranes wintering at the three lakes to clarify the effect of habitat size and protection status on intestinal microbes, using high-throughput sequencing technology. Our results showed that community composition and diversity of intestinal microbes were significantly different among lakes with different habitat size and protection status. The Hooded Cranes at Shengjin Lake (small) had higher intestinal microbial alpha-diversity (for both bacteria and fungi) than those at Poyang Lake (large), which might be induced by social behavior of more waterbirds per unit area. The Hooded Cranes at Caizi Lake (relatively poorly protected habitat) had more diverse and abundant intestinal potential pathogens than Shengjin Lake (well-protected habitat). Our results indicated that the environmental pressure of a habitat might affect intestinal microorganisms and more attention might be needed for the vulnerable waterbirds at the habitat of poor protection status.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan zhang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Zhangjun Shen ◽  
Jingjing Wang ◽  
Yajun Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Studies on the rhizosphere microbiome of various plants proved that rhizosphere microbiota carries out various vital functions and can regulate the growth and improve the yield of plants. However, the rhizosphere microbiome of commercial blueberry was only reported by a few studies and remains elusive. Comparison and interpretation of the characteristics of the rhizosphere microbiome of blueberry are critical important to maintain its health. Methods: In this study, we collected 15 rhizosphere soil samples from three different blueberry varieties and five bulk soil samples, which were sequenced with a high-throughput sequencing strategy. Based on these sequencing datasets, we profiled the taxonomical, functional, and phenotypic compositions of rhizosphere microbial communities for three different blueberry varieties and compared our results with a previous study focused on the rhizosphere microbiome of blueberry varieties.Results: Our results demonstrated significant differences in alpha diversity and beta diversity of rhizosphere microbial communities of different blueberry varieties and bulk soil. The distribution patterns of taxonomical, functional, and phenotypic compositions of rhizosphere microbiome differ across the blueberry varieties. The rhizosphere microbial communities of three different blueberry varieties could be distinctly separated, and 28 discriminative biomarkers were selected to distinguish these three blueberry varieties. Core rhizosphere microbiota for blueberry was identified, and it contained 201 OTUs, which were mainly affiliated with Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria. Moreover, the interactions between OTUs of blueberry rhizosphere microbial communities were explored by a co-occurrence network of OTUs from an ecological perspective. Conclusions: This pilot study explored the characteristics of blueberry’s rhizosphere microbial community, such as the beneficial microorganisms and core microbiome, and provided an integrative perspective on blueberry’s rhizosphere microbiome, which beneficial to blueberry health and production.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan zhang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Zhangjun Shen ◽  
Jingjing Wang ◽  
Yajun Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Studies on the rhizosphere microbiome of various plants proved that rhizosphere microbiota carries out various vital functions and can regulate the growth and improve the yield of plants. However, the rhizosphere microbiome of commercial blueberry was only reported by a few studies and remains elusive. Comparison and interpretation of the characteristics of the rhizosphere microbiome of blueberry are critical important to maintain its health. Results: In this study, a total of 20 rhizosphere soil samples, including 15 rhizosphere soil samples from three different blueberry varieties and five bulk soil samples, were sequenced with a high-throughput sequencing strategy. Based on these sequencing datasets, we profiled the taxonomical, functional, and phenotypic compositions of rhizosphere microbial communities for three different blueberry varieties and compared our results with a previous study focused on the rhizosphere microbiome of blueberry varieties. Our results demonstrated significant differences in alpha diversity and beta diversity of rhizosphere microbial communities of different blueberry varieties and bulk soil. The distribution patterns of taxonomical, functional, and phenotypic compositions of rhizosphere microbiome differ across the blueberry varieties. The rhizosphere microbial communities of three different blueberry varieties could be distinctly separated, and 28 discriminative biomarkers were selected to distinguish these three blueberry varieties. Core rhizosphere microbiota for blueberry was identified, and it contained 201 OTUs, which were mainly affiliated with Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria. Moreover, the interactions between OTUs of blueberry rhizosphere microbial communities were explored by a co-occurrence network of OTUs from an ecological perspective. Conclusions: This pilot study explored the characteristics of blueberry’s rhizosphere microbial community, such as the beneficial microorganisms and core microbiome, and provided an integrative perspective on blueberry’s rhizosphere microbiome, which beneficial to blueberry health and production.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Zhangjun Shen ◽  
Jingjing Wang ◽  
Yajun Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Rhizosphere microbiota play a critical role in biogeochemical cycles and carry out various vital functions in plant production. Studies on the rhizosphere microbiome of various plants proved that rhizosphere microbiota can regulate the growth and improve the yield of plants. However, the rhizosphere microbiome of commercial blueberry remains elusive. Hence, the characteristics of rhizosphere microbial communities of blueberry should be compared and interpreted for improving production. Methods: We collected 15 rhizosphere soil samples of three different blueberry varieties and five bulk soil samples to profile the composition of blueberry microbial communities by high-throughput sequencing. Results: Our results demonstrated significant differences in both alpha diversity and beta diversity of rhizosphere microbial communities of different blueberry varieties and bulk soil. We found that the distribution patterns of taxonomical, functional, and phenotypic composition of rhizosphere microbiome differ across the blueberry varieties. The rhizosphere microbial communities of three different blueberry varieties could be distinctly separated and 28 discriminative biomarkers were selected to distinguish these three blueberry varieties. Core rhizosphere microbiota for blueberry was identified, and it contained 201 OTUs, which were mainly affiliated with Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria. Moreover, we explored the interactions between OTUs of blueberry rhizosphere microbial communities by constructing the co-occurrence network of OTUs from an ecological perspective. Conclusions: This pilot study explored the characteristics of blueberry’s rhizosphere microbial community, such as the beneficial microorganisms, and provided an integrative perspective on blueberry’s rhizosphere microbiome, which was beneficial to blueberry health and production.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wan Tao ◽  
Rui Xu ◽  
Hanzhi Lin ◽  
Duanyi Huang ◽  
Pingzhou Su ◽  
...  

Abstract The extensive application of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) causes their frequent detection in various environments. Nevertheless, the effects of PFASs exposure on environmental microorganisms still remain unknown. In current work, two typical PFASs, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), are selected to investigate their long-term effects on soil microbes. Microbial community structure and diversity were investigated by high-throughput sequencing and multiple statistical methods. Under 90-days of exposure, PFAS treatments increased the alpha-diversity of soil microbial communities with PFOS treatment, followed by PFOA treatment. The long-term exposure of PFASs substantially changed the compositions of soil microbial communities. The most abundant phylum Proteobacteria decreased from 82.9% (without amended PFASs) to 62.1% (with PFOA treatment) and 77.8% (with PFOS treatment). As a comparison, the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Acidobacteria, and Ignavibacteriae increased in the PFOA or PFOS groups. Comparative co-occurrence networks were constructed to investigate the biotic interactions in the two treatments. It was found that most taxonomy nodes in the PFOA and PFOS networks were associated with the genus Hydrogenophaga and Pseudoxanthomonas, respectively. The LEfSe analysis identified a set of core taxonomies (e.g., Azospirillum, Methyloversatilis, Ancylobacter, Hydrogenophaga, and Methylomonas) in the soil microbial communities and suggested their different preferences to PFAS exposures. Functional gene prediction suggested that the microbial metabolism processes, such as nucleotide transport and metabolism, cell motility, carbohydrate transport and metabolism, energy production and conversion, and secondary metabolites biosynthesis transport and catabolism, might be significantly inhibited under PFAS exposure, which may further affect soil ecological services.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (14) ◽  
pp. eabg0677
Author(s):  
Becca Franks ◽  
Christopher Ewell ◽  
Jennifer Jacquet

The unprecedented growth of aquaculture involves well-documented environmental and public-health costs, but less is understood about global animal welfare risks. Integrating data from multiple sources, we estimated the taxonomic diversity of farmed aquatic animals, the number of individuals killed annually, and the species-specific welfare knowledge (absence of which indicates extreme risk). In 2018, FAO reported 82.12 million metric tons of farmed aquatic animals from six phyla and at least 408 species—20 times the number of species of farmed terrestrial animals. The farmed aquatic animal tonnage represents 250 to 408 billion individuals, of which 59 to 129 billion are vertebrates (e.g., carps, salmonids). Specialized welfare information was available for 84 species, only 30% of individuals; the remaining 70% either had no welfare publications or were of an unknown species. With aquaculture growth outpacing welfare knowledge, immediate efforts are needed to safeguard the welfare of high-production, understudied species and to create policies that minimize welfare risks.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 617
Author(s):  
Zhenbing Wu ◽  
Qianqian Zhang ◽  
Yaoyao Lin ◽  
Jingwen Hao ◽  
Shuyi Wang ◽  
...  

The gill and gastrointestinal tract are primary entry routes for pathogens. The symbiotic microbiota are essential to the health, nutrition and disease of fish. Though the intestinal microbiota of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) has been extensively studied, information on the mucosa-associated microbiota of this species, especially the gill and gastrointestinal mucosa-associated microbiota, is lacking. This study aimed to characterize the gill and gastrointestinal mucosa- and digesta-associated microbiota, as well as the intestinal metabolite profiles in the New Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia (NEW GIFT) strain of farmed adult Nile tilapia by high-throughput sequencing and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry metabolomics. The diversity, structure, composition, and predicted function of gastrointestinal microbiota were significantly different across gastrointestinal regions and sample types (Welch t-test; p < 0.05). By comparing the mucosa- and digesta-associated microbiota, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) analysis revealed that Pelomonas, Ralstoniapickettii, Comamonadaceae, and Staphylococcus were significantly enriched in the mucosa-associated microbiota, whereas many bacterial taxa were significantly enriched in the digesta-associated microbiota, including Chitinophagaceae, Cetobacterium, CandidatusCompetibacter, Methyloparacoccus, and chloroplast (LDA score > 3.5). Furthermore, Undibacterium, Escherichia–Shigella, Paeniclostridium, and Cetobacterium were dominant in the intestinal contents and mucosae, whereas Sphingomonasaquatilis and Roseomonasgilardii were commonly found in the gill and stomach mucosae. The Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt2) analysis revealed that the predictive function of digesta-associated microbiota significantly differed from that of mucosa-associated microbiota (R = 0.8152, p = 0.0001). In addition, our results showed a significant interdependence between specific intestinal microbes and metabolites. Notably, the relative abundance values of several potentially beneficial microbes, including Undibacterium, Crenothrix, and Cetobacterium, were positively correlated with most intestinal metabolites, whereas the relative abundance values of some potential opportunistic pathogens, including Acinetobacter, Mycobacterium, Escherichia–Shigella, Paeniclostridium, Aeromonas, and Clostridiumsensustricto 1, were negatively correlated with most intestinal metabolites. This study revealed the characteristics of gill and gastrointestinal mucosa-associated and digesta-associated microbiota of farmed Nile tilapia and identified a close correlation between intestinal microbes and metabolites. The results serve as a basis for the effective application of targeted probiotics or prebiotics in the diet to regulate the nutrition and health of farmed tilapia.


Fuels ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-252
Author(s):  
Dyah Asri Handayani Taroepratjeka ◽  
Tsuyoshi Imai ◽  
Prapaipid Chairattanamanokorn ◽  
Alissara Reungsang

Extreme halophiles offer the advantage to save on the costs of sterilization and water for biohydrogen production from lignocellulosic waste after the pretreatment process with their ability to withstand extreme salt concentrations. This study identifies the dominant hydrogen-producing genera and species among the acclimatized, extremely halotolerant microbial communities taken from two salt-damaged soil locations in Khon Kaen and one location from the salt evaporation pond in Samut Sakhon, Thailand. The microbial communities’ V3–V4 regions of 16srRNA were analyzed using high-throughput amplicon sequencing. A total of 345 operational taxonomic units were obtained and the high-throughput sequencing confirmed that Firmicutes was the dominant phyla of the three communities. Halanaerobium fermentans and Halanaerobacter lacunarum were the dominant hydrogen-producing species of the communities. Spatial proximity was not found to be a determining factor for similarities between these extremely halophilic microbial communities. Through the study of the microbial communities, strategies can be developed to increase biohydrogen molar yield.


BMC Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy P. Jenkins ◽  
David I. Pritchard ◽  
Radu Tanasescu ◽  
Gary Telford ◽  
Marina Papaiakovou ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Helminth-associated changes in gut microbiota composition have been hypothesised to contribute to the immune-suppressive properties of parasitic worms. Multiple sclerosis is an immune-mediated autoimmune disease of the central nervous system whose pathophysiology has been linked to imbalances in gut microbial communities. Results In the present study, we investigated, for the first time, qualitative and quantitative changes in the faecal bacterial composition of human volunteers with remitting multiple sclerosis (RMS) prior to and following experimental infection with the human hookworm, Necator americanus (N+), and following anthelmintic treatment, and compared the findings with data obtained from a cohort of RMS patients subjected to placebo treatment (PBO). Bacterial 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing data revealed significantly decreased alpha diversity in the faecal microbiota of PBO compared to N+ subjects over the course of the trial; additionally, we observed significant differences in the abundances of several bacterial taxa with putative immune-modulatory functions between study cohorts. Parabacteroides were significantly expanded in the faecal microbiota of N+ individuals for which no clinical and/or radiological relapses were recorded at the end of the trial. Conclusions Overall, our data lend support to the hypothesis of a contributory role of parasite-associated alterations in gut microbial composition to the immune-modulatory properties of hookworm parasites.


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