The composition and structure of the intestinal microflora of Anguilla marmorata at different growth rates: a deep sequencing study

Abstract

Aims The aim of this study was to determine the intestinal microflora of Anguilla marmorata at different growth rates and to identify potential probiotic/pernicious bacteria. Methods and Results Bacterial communities from eight different eels' intestinal sites (including the intestinal contents and the intestinal mucosa) from three fish groups (three fast‐, two medium‐, and three stunted‐growth samples), two water samples, and one diet sample were characterized by Illumina next‐generation sequencing. The data revealed that the predominant genera (relative abundance of bacteria genera >1%) in the intestine of fast‐ and medium‐growth groups were Cetobacterium, Edwardsiella, Clostridium, Lactococcus, Bacteroides, Plesiomonas and Akkermansia. The dominant genus in the stunted‐growth group was Spiroplasma. Moreover, culture‐associated (water and feed) environmental microbes were distinct from those present in fish intestines, and included Flavobacterium (the dominant bacteria in water) and Corynebacterium (the dominant bacteria in feed). Conclusions Only minor differences in gut microbial communities were observed between the fast‐growth group and the medium‐growth group; however, significant differences were observed between the normal‐growth group (including the fast‐growth group and medium‐growth group, which showed uninhibited growth during the rearing stage) and the stunted‐growth group. Together, these data suggested that intestinal microbes were significantly associated with marbled eels’ growth rate. Significance and Impact of the Study In this study, we demonstrated for the first time, the intestinal bacterial communities of A. marmorata at different growth rates. Moreover, we found that the genus Spiroplasma was abundant in the guts of stunted‐growth eels, which had never been noticed. Such a finding indicates that the genus Spiroplasma plays a key role associated with retardation in growth and should be controlled to recover the growth of stunted eels, which is meaningful to farmers.

Gut microbiota of newborn piglets with intrauterine growth restriction have lower diversity and different taxonomic abundances

“…The trillions of intestinal microbes harboured in the mammalian gut profoundly influences the host’s health and disease status (Vaarala ; Frese et al ; Lin et al ). An increasing number of studies have shown that the small intestinal microbiota has a profound impact on host metabolism and growth (El Aidy et al ; Burbach et al ; Li et al ).…”

Analysis of the Intestinal Flora in Male Versus Female Swamp Eels (Monopterus albus)

“…Cetobacterium is the core flora in the intestinal tract of fish (Jiajia et al, 2012). It can produce acetic acid to promote protein synthesis or combine with coenzyme A to boost sugar and fat metabolism and can synthesize fats, carbohydrates, and proteins for the host's use (Lin et al, 2019). This suggests that Cetobacterium may play a vital role in the development and growth of fish.…”

“…The two groups of dominant symbiotic bacteria are Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1. It has the highest content in the healthy growth population and was the major member of intestinal bacteria in some fish (Sullam et al, 2012;Lopetuso et al, 2013;Lin et al, 2019). The abundance of Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 in the intestine of healthy piglets is higher, and decrease in its abundance may cause diarrhea in healthy piglets (Han et al, 2019).…”

“…Also, the intestinal flora has been regarded as a large and complex ecosystem in the body, which is affected by diet, physiological status, environmental factors, genetic factors, and other factors (Filippo et al, 2010;O'Toole, 2012;Zijlmans et al, 2015;Karl et al, 2017). The intestinal flora of fish is also affected by many factors, including diet, developmental stage, environmental temperature, and growth rate (Maiwore et al, 2009;Campbell and Buswell, 2010;Ringø et al, 2016;Neuman et al, 2016;Lin et al, 2019). However, the impact of sex on intestinal flora is unclear.…”

Revealing the difference of intestinal microbiota composition of cultured European eels (Anguilla anguilla) with different growth rates

“…At present, the intestinal microbiota of eels was not well studied, and only several studies were conducted to investigate the intestinal microbiota of different eel species, including the mucosal microbiota metagenome of European eels from five sources (Carda-Diéguez et al, 2014), intestinal microbiota compositions of Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) (Lee et al, 2015), the compositions of the intestinal microbiota of three eel species (Anguilla japonica, A. marmorata, and A. bicolor pacifica) (Hsu et al, 2018), the community composition and complexity of the intestinal microbiota in cultivated European eels during three stages of their lifecycle (Huang et al, 2018), and composition and structure of the intestinal microflora of marbled eels at different growth rates (Lin et al, 2019).…”