| Title |
Host Species as a Strong Determinant of the Intestinal Microbiota of Fish Larvae |
| Author |
Xuemei Li1,2, Yuhe Yu1*, Weisong Feng1, Qingyun Yan1, and Yingchun Gong1 |
| Address |
1Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Conservation of Aquatic Organisms, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, P. R. China, 2Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, P. R. China |
| Bibliography |
Journal of Microbiology, 50(1),29-37, 2012,
|
| DOI |
|
| Key Words |
intestinal microbiota, denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, freshwater fish larvae, host species effects |
| Abstract |
We investigated the influence of host species on intestinal
microbiota by comparing the gut bacterial community structure
of four cohabitating freshwater fish larvae, silver carp,
grass carp, bighead carp, and blunt snout bream, using denaturing
gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of the amplified
16S and 18S rRNA genes. Similarity clustering indicated
that the intestinal microbiota derived from these four fish
species could be divided into four groups based on 16S
rRNA gene similarity, whereas the eukaryotic 18S rRNA
genes showed no distinct groups. The water sample from the
shared environment contained microbiota of an independent
group as indicated by both 16S and 18S rRNA genes segments.
The bacterial community structures were visualized using
rank-abundance plots fitted with linear regression models.
Results showed that the intestinal bacterial evenness was
significantly different between species (P<0.05) and between
species and the water sample (P<0.01). Thirty-five relatively
dominant bands in DGGE patterns were sequenced and
grouped into five major taxa: Proteobacteria (26), Actinobacteria
(5), Bacteroidetes (1), Firmicutes (2), and Cyanobacterial
(1). Six eukaryotes were detected by sequencing 18S rRNA
genes segments. The present study suggests that the intestines
of the four fish larvae, although reared in the same environment,
contained distinct bacterial populations, while intestinal
eukaryotic microorganisms were almost identical. |
