Abstract
Culture-dependent techniques only permit the study of a low percentage of the microbiota diversity in the environment. The introduction of next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies shed light into this hidden microbial world, providing a better knowledge on the general microbiota and, specifically, on the microbial populations of clams. Tissue-associated microbiota of Ruditapes decussatus and Ruditapes philippinarum (mantle, gills, gonad and hepatopancreas) was analysed in two different locations of Galicia (northwest of Spain) during Spring (April) and Autumn (October), employing a metataxonomic approach. High bacterial diversity and richness were found in all samples where a total of 22,044 OTUs were obtained. In most samples, phylum Proteobacteria was most frequently retrieved, although other phyla as Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Tenericutes, Firmicutes or Chlamydiae also appeared at high relative abundances in the samples. At genus level, great variation was found across tissues and sampling periods. A Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS) and a hierarchical clustering analysis allowed to further analyse the factors responsible for the differences among groups of samples in the different sites. Results showed sample ordination based on tissue origin and sampling periods, pointing out that the microbiota was influenced by these factors. Indeed, predominance of certain genera was observed, such as Endozoicomonas or Methylobacterium in gills and gonads, respectively, suggesting that selection of specific bacterial taxa is likely to occur. So far, this study provided a general picture of the tissue associated microbial population structure in R. decussatus and R. philippinarum clams, which, ultimately, allowed the identification of specific tissue-related taxa.
Highlights
The culture of shellfish, specially clams and mussels, represents a key economic activity in the aquaculture of Galicia, a region in the North West of Spain
After filtering raw sequences obtained from the V3/V4 region of 16S rRNA, a total of 441,672 reads were obtained from samples of R. decussatus and R. philippinarum with an average length from 453 to 460 pb
Samples gathered in site A harboured, predominantly, bacteria belonging to Proteobacteria in both clam species
Summary
The culture of shellfish, specially clams and mussels, represents a key economic activity in the aquaculture of Galicia, a region in the North West of Spain. Departamento de Microbiología Y Parasitología, CRETUS & CIBUS‐Facultad de Biología, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Campus Vida s/n, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain microbial communities associated to marine organisms, such as molluscs (Bower et al 1994). Bivalve molluscs are powerful filter feeding organisms, allowed to filter large volumes of water, while concentrating different microorganisms. Bivalves, such as clams, are capable of retaining an important bacterial fraction in their organism, namely associated microbiota, while expelling to the environment the so-called microbiota in transition. The associated microbiota plays different roles in bivalve molluscs, some of which may be beneficial for the host while others may have harmful effects
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