Influence of Habitat in Inner Body Fluids Microbiome in the Small-Spotted Catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula)
Abstract
The microbiome is a decisive influencer in the health, development, and/or reproduction of organisms, being an indicator of environmental interactions,1-3 although little is known about the microbial signatures of inner body fluids.4-5 This study compares the environmental influence on the microbial profile found in the peripheral blood and seminal plasma of wild and aquarium small-spotted catshark (Scyliorhinus canicula).
Samples were collected from a total of 18 wild small-spotted catsharks from the Mediterranean Sea and seven aquarium-housed small-spotted catsharks in Oceanogràfic (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, Valencia, Spain). The study used 16S amplicon sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq. Results were analysed by using QIIME2 v2021.4. The data observed suggest fluid-specific microorganism compartmentalisation in both inner body fluids. The blood plasma microbiome was not affected by the environment because there are no differences in the α- and β-diversity between groups, in contrast with seminal plasma. Proteobacteria dominated the bacterial communities in blood and seminal plasma from both environments, and Firmicutes was only present in the blood plasma of wild animals. No central microbiome was identified at the genus level; only Pseudomonas and Cloacibacterium appeared as common genera in both body fluids and habitats. Fourteen genera were identified in blood plasma, but only four were common in wild and aquarium S. canicula, in contrast with 100 genera identified in seminal plasma, only 41 being shared between groups.
Altogether, this study extends the existing knowledge about the elasmobranchs’ microbiota under wild and aquaria conditions differing from environmental factors; meanwhile, providing further evidence that each body compartment has a unique microbiome and suggesting that their blood microbiomes are not associated with compromised host health.6
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the Avanqua-Oceanogràfic SL aquarium staff, especially to the aquarists and veterinarians for their assistance with animal care in the aquarium animals, and to the local fishermen from Valencia, Jávea, and Cullera for providing wild-captured animals.
*Presenting author
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