Effects of different salinity on the transcriptome and antibiotic resistance of two Vibrio parahaemolyticus strains isolated from Penaeus vannamei cultured in seawater and freshwater ponds.

The transcriptome and antibiotic resistance of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from Penaeus vannamei cultured in seawater (strain HN1)and freshwater (strain SH1) ponds were studied at different salinity (2‰ and 20‰). At different salinity, 623 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) significantly upregulated and 1,559 DEGs significantly downregulated in SH1. In HN1, 466 DEGs significantly upregulated and 1,930 DEGs significantly downregulated, indicating high salinity can lead to the downregulation of most genes. In KEGG analysis, the expression of DEGs annotated to starch and sucrose metabolism pathway was higher at 2‰ salinity than at 20‰ salinity in HN1 and SH1, implying salinity affected bacterial growth mainly through this pathway. In the enrichment analysis of upregulated DEGs, two pathways (Valine, leucine, and isoleucine degradation, and Butanoate metabolism) were significantly enriched at different salinity. Antibiotic-susceptibility test discovered that SH1 isolated from P. vannamei cultured in freshwater was resistant to multiple drugs, including kanamycin, gentamicin, medemycin, and azithromycin, at a salinity of 2‰, whereas at 20‰ salinity, SH1 was not resistant to the drugs. The HN1 strain isolated from P. vannamei cultured in mariculture was resistant to polymyxin B and clindamycin at 20‰ salinity. Whereas, HN1 was intermediately susceptible to these two antibiotics at 2‰ salinity. These results indicate that the drug resistance of bacteria was affected by salinity. Furthermore, beta-lactam resistance was significantly enriched in SH1 at different salinity, and the inhibition zone of penicillin G was consistent with the results of a beta-lactam resistance pathway.