Abstract
Intensive aquaculture has increased the severity and frequency of fish diseases. Given the functional importance of gut microbiota in various facets of host physiology, modulation of this microbiota is a feasible strategy to mitigate emerging diseases in aquaculture. To achieve this, a fundamental understanding of the interplay among fish health, microbiota, and invading pathogens is required. This mini-review focuses on current knowledge regarding the associations between fish diseases, dysbiosis of gut microbiota, and immune responses. Furthermore, updated research on fish disease from an ecological perspective is discussed, including colonization resistance imposed by commensals and strategies used by pathogens to overcome resistance. We also propose several directions for future research, such as exploration of the causal links between fish diseases and specific taxa, and identification of universal gut microbial biomarkers for rapid disease diagnosis.
Highlights
Intensive aquaculture has increased the severity and frequency of fish diseases
Despite the extensive list of candidate probiotics investigated in previous studies (Dawood et al, 2016; Liu et al, 2018; Ramesh et al, 2017), successful application has been limited, as reported in a survey of farmers (Xiong et al, 2016)
Understanding the factors that dictate the invasion of pathogens and establishment of probiotics in the intestine will provide an initial step towards predicting and treating fish diseases
Summary
Intensive aquaculture has increased the severity and frequency of fish diseases. Given the functional importance of gut microbiota in various facets of host physiology, modulation of this microbiota is a feasible strategy to mitigate emerging diseases in aquaculture. Understanding the factors that dictate the invasion of pathogens and establishment of probiotics in the intestine will provide an initial step towards predicting and treating fish diseases. Several recent reviews have centered on the diversity and functions of bacterial communities in healthy fish (de Bruijn et al, 2017), as well as on the external factors that affect fish gut microbiota (Wang et al, 2017) and interactions between gut microbiota and innate immunity in fish (Gómez & Balcázar, 2008; Nie et al, 2017).
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