Modulation of gut microbiota associated with abalone Haliotis gigantea by dietary administration of host-derived Pediococcus sp. Ab1

Abstract

In the present study, we evaluated how dietary administration of host-derived Pediococcus sp. Ab1 has an effect on the abalone gut microbiota using a culture-dependent method and 16S rRNA gene library analysis. The culturable lactic acid bacteria number in the probiotic sample was 105 higher than that in the non-probiotic sample, and we speculate that this significant increase was due to colonization of Ab1 into abalone gut. The result of a culture-dependent method showed that the proportion of Vibrio halioticoli clade, which is known to be a beneficial resident bacterium to abalone, was much higher in the probiotic sample than in the non-probiotic sample. 16S rRNA gene clone sequences revealed that gut microbiota in the probiotic sample was obviously diverse compared to the non-probiotic sample, probably due to improvement of the gut environment by Ab1 colonization. In addition, some beneficial bacteria–like sequences such as V. halioticoli were only found in the probiotic sample. These results suggest that the dietary administration of Ab1 to abalone gut has a great effect on modulation of not only culturable but also unculturable gut microbiota. Our results are useful for future investigations into understanding the effect of probiotics on gut microbiota.