Koepper Svenja, Clark K Fraser, McClure J Trenton, Revie Crawford W, Stryhn Henrik, Thakur Krishna K
Department of Health Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE, Canada.
Department of Animal Sciences and Aquaculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Bible Hill, NS, Canada.
Front Microbiol. 2023 Nov 6;14:1245818. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1245818. eCollection 2023.
The shell microbial community of lobsters-a key factor in the development of epizootic shell disease (ESD)-is still insufficiently researched in Atlantic Canada and many knowledge gaps remain. This study aimed to establish a baseline description and analysis of the shell microbiome of apparently healthy lobsters from four locations in the region. More than 180 lobster shell swab samples were collected from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (PEI). PacBio long-read 16S rDNA sequencing and bioinformatic analyses in QIIME2 identified the shell-associated bacteria. The shell microbiome of healthy lobsters consisted mainly of the bacterial classes , , , , , and . The microbial composition differed regionally and seasonally, with some classes showing decreased or increased relative abundances in the PEI samples as well as in the winter and spring samples in Nova Scotia. The core shell microbiome included potentially pathogenic as well as beneficial bacterial taxa, of which some were present only in certain regions. Bacterial taxa that have previously been associated with ESD were present on healthy lobsters in Atlantic Canada, but their frequency differed by location, sampling time, and moult stage. This study indicated that geographical and seasonal factors influenced the shell microbiome of apparently healthy lobsters more than host factors such as sex, size, and moult stage. Our results provide valuable reference microbial data from lobsters in a disease-free state.
龙虾的外壳微生物群落—— epizootic shell disease（ESD）发展的一个关键因素——在加拿大大西洋地区仍未得到充分研究，许多知识空白仍然存在。本研究旨在对该地区四个地点看似健康的龙虾的外壳微生物组进行基线描述和分析。从新不伦瑞克省、新斯科舍省和爱德华王子岛（PEI）采集了180多个龙虾外壳拭子样本。在QIIME2中进行的PacBio长读长16S rDNA测序和生物信息学分析确定了与外壳相关的细菌。健康龙虾的外壳微生物组主要由细菌类 、 、 、 、 、 和 组成。微生物组成在区域和季节上存在差异，一些类在PEI样本以及新斯科舍省的冬季和春季样本中的相对丰度有所下降或增加。核心外壳微生物组包括潜在致病和有益的细菌类群，其中一些仅存在于某些地区。先前与ESD相关的细菌类群在加拿大大西洋地区的健康龙虾身上也有发现，但它们的频率因地点、采样时间和蜕皮阶段而异。这项研究表明，地理和季节因素对看似健康的龙虾的外壳微生物组的影响大于性别、大小和蜕皮阶段等宿主因素。我们的结果提供了来自处于无病状态龙虾的有价值的参考微生物数据。
