Microbiome patterns across the gastrointestinal tract of the rabbitfish Siganus fuscescens

Most of our knowledge regarding the biodiversity of gut microbes comes from terrestrial organisms or marine species of economic value, with less emphasis on ecologically important species. Here we investigate the bacterial composition associated with the gut of Siganus fuscescens, a rabbitfish that...

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Main Authors: Shaun Nielsen, Jackson Wilkes Walburn, Adriana Vergés, Torsten Thomas, Suhelen Egan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: PeerJ Inc. 2017-05-01
Series:PeerJ
Subjects:
Online Access:https://peerj.com/articles/3317.pdf
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author Shaun Nielsen
Jackson Wilkes Walburn
Adriana Vergés
Torsten Thomas
Suhelen Egan
author_facet Shaun Nielsen
Jackson Wilkes Walburn
Adriana Vergés
Torsten Thomas
Suhelen Egan
author_sort Shaun Nielsen
collection DOAJ
description Most of our knowledge regarding the biodiversity of gut microbes comes from terrestrial organisms or marine species of economic value, with less emphasis on ecologically important species. Here we investigate the bacterial composition associated with the gut of Siganus fuscescens, a rabbitfish that plays an important ecological role in coastal ecosystems by consuming seaweeds. Members of Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and delta-Proteobacteria were among the dominant taxa across samples taken from the contents and the walls (sites) of the midgut and hindgut (location). Despite the high variability among individual fish, we observed statistically significant differences in beta-diversity between gut sites and gut locations. Some bacterial taxa low in abundance in the midgut content (e.g., Desulfovibrio) were found in greater abundances on the midgut wall and within the hindgut, suggesting that the gut may select for specific groups of environmental and/or food-associated microorganisms. In contrast, some distinct taxa present in the midgut content (e.g., Synechococcus) were noticeably reduced in the midgut wall and hindgut, and are thus likely to be representative of transient microbiota. This is the first assessment of the bacterial diversity associated with the gut of S. fuscescens and highlights the need to consider the variability across different gut locations and sites when analyzing fish gut microbiomes.
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spelling doaj.art-5ca89214d3e2404792137363404409c82023-12-03T09:46:17ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592017-05-015e331710.7717/peerj.3317Microbiome patterns across the gastrointestinal tract of the rabbitfish Siganus fuscescensShaun Nielsen0Jackson Wilkes Walburn1Adriana Vergés2Torsten Thomas3Suhelen Egan4Centre for Marine Bio-Innovation and School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaCentre for Marine Bio-Innovation and School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaCentre for Marine Bio-Innovation and School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaCentre for Marine Bio-Innovation and School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaCentre for Marine Bio-Innovation and School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AustraliaMost of our knowledge regarding the biodiversity of gut microbes comes from terrestrial organisms or marine species of economic value, with less emphasis on ecologically important species. Here we investigate the bacterial composition associated with the gut of Siganus fuscescens, a rabbitfish that plays an important ecological role in coastal ecosystems by consuming seaweeds. Members of Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and delta-Proteobacteria were among the dominant taxa across samples taken from the contents and the walls (sites) of the midgut and hindgut (location). Despite the high variability among individual fish, we observed statistically significant differences in beta-diversity between gut sites and gut locations. Some bacterial taxa low in abundance in the midgut content (e.g., Desulfovibrio) were found in greater abundances on the midgut wall and within the hindgut, suggesting that the gut may select for specific groups of environmental and/or food-associated microorganisms. In contrast, some distinct taxa present in the midgut content (e.g., Synechococcus) were noticeably reduced in the midgut wall and hindgut, and are thus likely to be representative of transient microbiota. This is the first assessment of the bacterial diversity associated with the gut of S. fuscescens and highlights the need to consider the variability across different gut locations and sites when analyzing fish gut microbiomes.https://peerj.com/articles/3317.pdfMicrobial community analysisFish gut microbiome16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencingMarine microbiologyRabbitfish
spellingShingle Shaun Nielsen
Jackson Wilkes Walburn
Adriana Vergés
Torsten Thomas
Suhelen Egan
Microbiome patterns across the gastrointestinal tract of the rabbitfish Siganus fuscescens
PeerJ
Microbial community analysis
Fish gut microbiome
16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing
Marine microbiology
Rabbitfish
title Microbiome patterns across the gastrointestinal tract of the rabbitfish Siganus fuscescens
title_full Microbiome patterns across the gastrointestinal tract of the rabbitfish Siganus fuscescens
title_fullStr Microbiome patterns across the gastrointestinal tract of the rabbitfish Siganus fuscescens
title_full_unstemmed Microbiome patterns across the gastrointestinal tract of the rabbitfish Siganus fuscescens
title_short Microbiome patterns across the gastrointestinal tract of the rabbitfish Siganus fuscescens
title_sort microbiome patterns across the gastrointestinal tract of the rabbitfish siganus fuscescens
topic Microbial community analysis
Fish gut microbiome
16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing
Marine microbiology
Rabbitfish
url https://peerj.com/articles/3317.pdf
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