Contribution of Aerobic Cellulolytic Gut Bacteria to Cellulose Digestion in Fifteen Coastal Grapsoid Crabs Underpins Potential for Mineralization of Mangrove Production

Abstract

Grapsoid crabs (Decapoda: Grapsoidea) inhabiting along the land-sea transition provided various amounts and quality of vascular plant carbon (e.g., fresh mangrove leaf, leaf litter, and mangrove-derived organic carbon) and perform differing levels of herbivory. Other than endogenous cellulase, symbiotic cellulolytic bacteria could also contribute to the crabs’ vascular plant carbon assimilation and mineralization. In this study, we isolated culturable cellulolytic bacteria from three gut regions (i.e., stomach, midgut, and hindgut) of 15 species of grapsoid crabs that inhabit in various coastal habitats (i.e., land margin, mangrove forest, tidal flat, and subtidal area). Bacillus, which was isolated from 11 out of the 15 grapsoid crabs, was the most common genus of culturable prominently cellulolytic bacteria among the target species. Seventy to ninety nine percent of culturable cellulolytic bacteria were removed, and the endoglucanase activity of five species was significantly reduced by 14.4–27.7% after antibiotic treatment. These results suggest that cellulolytic bacteria play a role in assisting mangrove carbon utilization in coastal grapsoid crabs, especially those inhabiting mangrove, mudflat, and subtidal areas. The significantly higher abundance of cellulolytic bacteria and the generally higher hydrolytic capacity of the bacteria in mangrove crab species suggest that they receive more contribution from symbionts for mangrove carbon utilization, while semi-terrestrial crabs seem to depend little on symbiotic cellulase due to the lower abundances.