Cuticles of European and American lobsters harbor diverse bacterial species and differ in disease susceptibility

MicrobiologyOpen

Miranda M. A. Whitten¹  Charlotte E. Davies¹  Anita Kim²  Michael Tlusty²  Emma C. Wootton¹  Andrei Chistoserdov³ 

[1]Department of Biosciences, College of Science, Swansea University, Swansea, U.K

[2]John H. Prescott Marine Laboratory, New England Aquarium, Boston, Massachusetts

[3]Department of Biology, The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana

关键词: Aquimarina;    biofilm;    emerging infectious diseases;    invertebrate microbiology;    lobster pathobiology;    shell disease syndrome;   

DOI  :  10.1002/mbo3.174

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

Diseases of lobster shells have a significant impact on fishing industries but the risk of disease transmission between different lobster species has yet to be properly investigated. This study compared bacterial biofilm communities from American (Homarus americanus) and European lobsters (H. gammarus), to assess both healthy cuticle and diseased cuticle during lesion formation. Culture-independent molecular techniques revealed diversity in the bacterial communities of cuticle biofilms both within and between the two lobster species, and identified three bacterial genera associated with shell lesions plus two putative beneficial bacterial species (detected exclusively in healthy cuticle or healing damaged cuticle). In an experimental aquarium shared between American and European lobsters, heterospecific transmission of potentially pathogenic bacteria appeared to be very limited; however, the claws of European lobsters were more likely to develop lesions when reared in the presence of American lobsters. Aquarium biofilms were also examined but revealed no candidate pathogens for environmental transmission. Aquimarina sp. ‘homaria’ (a potential pathogen associated with a severe epizootic form of shell disease) was detected at a much higher prevalence among American than European lobsters, but its presence correlated more with exacerbation of existing lesions rather than with lesion initiation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 The Authors. MicrobiologyOpen published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.