Whole-Body Microbiota of Sea Cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) from South Korea for Improved Seafood Management

Abstract

Sea cucumber () is a popular seafood source in Asia, including South Korea, and its consumption has recently increased with recognition of its medicinal properties. However, because raw sea cucumber contains various microbes, its ingestion can cause foodborne illness. Therefore, analysis of the microbiota in the whole body of sea cucumber can extend our understanding of foodborne illness caused by microorganisms and help to better manage products. We collected 40 sea cucumbers from four different sites in August and November, which are known as the maximum production areas in Korea. The microbiota was analyzed by an Illumina MiSeq system, and bacterial amounts were quantified by real-time PCR. The diversity and bacterial amounts in sea cucumber were higher in August than in November. Alpha-, Beta-, and Gammaproteobacteria were common dominant classes in all samples. However, the microbiota composition differed according to sampling time and site. and were commonly detected potential pathogens in August and November samples, respectively. The effect of experimental infection on the indigenous microbiota of sea cucumber was analyzed at different temperatures, revealing clear alterations of and ; thus, these shifts can be used as indicators for monitoring infection of sea cucumber. Although further studies are needed to clarify and understand the virulence and mechanisms of the identified pathogens of sea cucumber, our study provides a valuable reference for determining the potential of foodborne illness caused by sea cucumber ingestion and to develop monitoring strategies of products using microbiota information.

Novel association of Psychrobacter and Pseudomonas with malodour in bloodhound dogs, and the effects of a topical product composed of essential oils and plant‐derived essential fatty acids in a randomized, blinded, placebo‐controlled study

“…Psychrobacter spp. is a cold water Gram‐negative, nonmotile bacterium that has been associated with food spoilage and is a predominant commensal on aquatic animals . In vitro work has demonstrated that this bacterium has anti‐biofilm activities against Staphylococcus spp .…”

Food Safety Risks Posed by Heavy Metals and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) related to Consumption of Sea Cucumbers

“…Hazards generally associated with fishery products (Tae-Yoon et al, 2017, Zhao et al, 2021), although surprisingly, given the commercial value of the products have not been thoroughly studied. Only two papers on microbial load related to food safety [ 106 , 107 ] and three papers on microbial contamination [ 108 , 109 , 110 ] were found in the systematic screening of abstracts. As always, the sanitary conditions during harvest, transport, processing, and consumption are essential to keep microbial contamination (bacteria and viruses) as low as possible.…”

“…Consumption of raw seafood may be the origin of foodborne diseases and outbreaks thus prevention and control measures have to be strengthened as cuisines develop. Pathogens connected to foodborne poisoning from raw seafood consumption may include Bacillus cereus , Escherichia coli , Listeria monocytogenes , Salmonella spp., Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio cholerae [ 106 ].…”

Characterization of Microbiomes Associated With the Early Life Stages of Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus Selenka

“…Oceanospirillales, Rhodobacteriales, Alteromonadales, and Flavobacterales colonize sea cucumber's microbiota at different developmental stages and show significant changes during larval development. Many researchers have analyzed microbial communities and the impact of these individual bacteria on the host microbiome in sea cucumbers (Yang et al, 2015a;Yamazaki et al, 2016;Zhao et al, 2016;Kim et al, 2017;Li et al, 2018;Pagán-Jiménez et al, 2019;Ren et al, 2019;Yamazaki et al, 2019), but pioneer colonizers in fertilized eggs and larvae of sea cucumber have hardly been reported at all. Rhodobacterales, Flavobacterales, and Alteromonadales were also abundant in adult sea cucumber A. japonicus without similar microbial diversity (Yamazaki et al, 2016).…”