Abundant bacteria in the proximal and distal intestine of healthy Siberian sturgeons (Acipenser baerii)

Abstract

The gut microbiota plays a key role in animal health, including immune and metabolic homeostasis. Despite the economic relevance of the sturgeon, studies addressing the gut microbiome of this species are scarce and have focused only on the hindgut. The objective of this work was to use Illumina metabarcoding technology to compare the bacterial microbiomes of two different intestinal locations, the proximal intestine (small intestine) and the distal intestine (hindgut containing the spiral valve), of healthy Siberian sturgeons (Acipenser baerii) reared on two different farms in Spain. Although a high degree of interindividual variability was observed, certain differences between the anatomical parts and between the geographical locations were clear. The results show that the sequences corresponding to the most abundant taxa were the basis for clustering according to anatomical region (proximal and distal intestine), whereas the less abundant taxa were the basis for clustering according to the geographical location of the fish farms. Finally, the results also indicate the existence of certain bacteria that are present in the intestinal tracts of all the fish analyzed in this study; this information may be useful in future studies aiming to establish differences based upon fish health or disease.