Abstract
Bacillus is a diverse genus consisting of more than 200 species with extensive genetic diversity. Their beneficial effects in industrial shrimp farming have been well documented. However, little is known about the biodiversity of the Bacillus spp. in this aquaculture system. Taxonomic analysis by 16S rRNA sequencing does not always allow species-level identification of Bacillus spp. In this study, 26 Bacillus isolates from two industrial Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp ponds in Bac Lieu Province, Vietnam, were analyzed for their genetic diversity by multi-locus sequence typing (MLST). A total of 22 sequence types were identified and segregated into four distinct clusters, corresponding to B. subtilis, B. velezensis, B. siamensis, and B. licheniformis. Bacillus subtilis and B. velezensis accounted for more than 73% of the Bacillus isolates. Notably, the MLST scheme exhibited high discriminatory power and might be further simplified to be a convenient method to identify species of the genus Bacillus.
Highlights
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), aquaculture is the fastestgrowing sector of food production in the world today (FAO 2018)
There is a lack of knowledge on the genetic diversity of Bacillus bacteria in industrial shrimp aquaculture, which is the overall trend of shrimp farming in Vietnam
We aimed to explore the genetic diversity of the Bacillus group in two industrial shrimp ponds that are frequently supplemented with probiotic products
Summary
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), aquaculture is the fastestgrowing sector of food production in the world today (FAO 2018). Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit to the host (Mack 2005) Their beneficial effects in Bacteria belonging to Bacillus genus are often included in probiotics used in aquaculture as they are believed to confer multiple benefits to both the environment and the cultured animals (van Hai and Fotedar 2010; Zokaeifar et al 2012). These bacteria are non-pathogenic, spore-forming, and capable of secreting compounds with antimicrobial properties (Zokaeifar et al 2012). There is a lack of knowledge on the genetic diversity of Bacillus bacteria in industrial shrimp aquaculture, which is the overall trend of shrimp farming in Vietnam
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