Cuticles of European and American lobsters harbor diverse bacterial species and differ in disease susceptibility

Abstract

Diseases of lobster shells have a significant impact on fishing industries but the risk of disease transmission between different lobster species has yet to be properly investigated. This study compared bacterial biofilm communities from American (Homarus americanus) and European lobsters (H. gammarus), to assess both healthy cuticle and diseased cuticle during lesion formation. Culture-independent molecular techniques revealed diversity in the bacterial communities of cuticle biofilms both within and between the two lobster species, and identified three bacterial genera associated with shell lesions plus two putative beneficial bacterial species (detected exclusively in healthy cuticle or healing damaged cuticle). In an experimental aquarium shared between American and European lobsters, heterospecific transmission of potentially pathogenic bacteria appeared to be very limited; however, the claws of European lobsters were more likely to develop lesions when reared in the presence of American lobsters. Aquarium biofilms were also examined but revealed no candidate pathogens for environmental transmission. Aquimarina sp. ‘homaria’ (a potential pathogen associated with a severe epizootic form of shell disease) was detected at a much higher prevalence among American than European lobsters, but its presence correlated more with exacerbation of existing lesions rather than with lesion initiation.

Fine-scale transition to lower bacterial diversity and altered community composition precedes shell disease in laboratory-reared juvenile American lobster

“…4 & 6A). This is contrary to work done by Whitten et al (2014), which showed greater bacterial diversity in diseased shell compared to healthy shell. These previous results, however, were based on methods that recovered an average of 8 to 11 taxa per sample.…”

“…OTU 118 was most closely aligned with Arenicella chitinivorans (99% sequence identity), a bacterium that differs from others in the same genus by its ability to degrade chitin (Nedashkovskaya et al 2013). Given that previous work by Whitten et al (2014) also recovered members of this genus from lesioned areas of the lobster shell, it appears that the ability to degrade chitin may be an important characteristic allowing bacteria to thrive on both the affected and transitionary shell.…”

“…OTU 118 was most closely aligned with Arenicella chitinivorans (99% sequence identity), a bacterium that differs from others in the same genus by its ability to degrade chitin (Nedashkovskaya et al 2013). Given that previous work by Whitten et al (2014) also recovered members of this genus from lesioned areas of the lobster shell, it appears that the ability to degrade chitin may be an important characteristic allowing bacteria to thrive on both the affected and transitionary shell.Many studies have reported the incidence of ubiquitous bacteria on the lobster shell, both on diseased and healthy shell , Meres et al 2012. In this study there were 10 OTUs present in the core microbiome of all 3 shell conditions (Fig.…”

Whole‐animal accumulation, oxidative stress, transcriptomic and metabolomic responses in the pink shrimp (Pandalus montagui) exposed to teflubenzuron

“…Significantly lower levels of 3‐(4‐hydroxyphenyl) lactate, which also showed a significant correlation with accumulated teflubenzuron levels, in the low‐ and high‐dose shrimps, further points to bacterial overgrowth in the teflubenzuron‐treated shrimps (Spaapen, Ketting, Wadman, Bruinvis, & Duran, ). The exposures may be causing dysregulation of normal and pathogenic/opportunistic bacteria in the P. montagui causing the skewing of the levels (Vogan, Powell, & Rowley, ; Whitten et al, ), as also indicated by the annotation of some of the significant DEGs.…”

Draft Genome Sequence of the Putative Marine Pathogen Aquimarina sp. Strain I32.4

“…The cause of ESD is still debated within the scientific literature, but recent studies have suggested that the presence of Aquimarina sp. ‘homaria’ results in the exacerbation of lesions (2–4). Aquimarina sp.…”