Aquaculture 2022

February 28 - March 4, 2022

San Diego, California

THE ATLANTIC SALMON MICROBIOTA DURING SMOLTIFICATION

 María F. Morales-Rivera*, Diego Valenzuela-Miranda , Bárbara P. Benavente, Cristián Gallardo-Escárate, and Valentina Valenzuela-Muñoz

 

Laboratory of Biotechnology and Aquatic Genomics, Interdisciplinary Center for Aquaculture Research (INCAR)

University of Concepción

Concepción, Chile

 e-mail address: marimoralesr@udec.cl

 



During smoltification process,  Atlantic  salmon (Salmo salar ) displayed  molecular  and physiological changes allowing the parr-smolt transformation. In farmed fish  this process can be modulated through  controlled temperature and photoperiod conditions . Although  fish changes during smoltification process have been studied in different levels ,  there are few investigations  concerning the role of the fish microbiota . Herein, changes in the metabolic requirements, feeding behavior , and osmoregulation suggest a strong microbiota modulation . Th is study  aimed  to explore  how the intestinal microbiota of Atlantic Salmon can be modulated  during the parr-smolt transformation.

 The experimental design evaluated a group of  Atlantic salmon smolts exposed to gradual salinity change (GSC) and other exposed to salinity shock (SS). Intestinal samples were collected in freshwater (FW) ,  10, 32 PSU  for GSC group and at 32 PSU for SS.  DNA extraction was performed using the phenol: chloroform isoamyl alcohol protocol.  Follow, the entire 16S rRNA gene were sequencing  in  the Nanopore MinION platform.  Then reads analysis and BLASTN aligned were performed with EPI2ME software package.  The results show that FW  intestines have a greater presence of the Alteromonadaceae and Moraxellaceae families.  Also, during GSC were observed high abundance of  Moraxellaceae  family.  On the other hand, in salmon exposed to SS, the Vibrionaceae family shows evident predominance.  To date, the composition of a healthy microbiota in fish has not been established. However, it has been suggested that high  bacterial  diversity is an indication of animal welfare . These results indicate that a greater diversity of families is observed in GSC  fish compared to  those subjected to SS .

Funding: ANID-Chile through the Postdoctoral grant FONDECYT (3190320), and FONDAP (#15110027).