The malleable gut microbiome of juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): Diet-dependent shifts of bacterial community structures

PLoS One. 2017 May 12;12(5):e0177735. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177735. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Plant-derived protein sources are the most relevant substitutes for fishmeal in aquafeeds. Nevertheless, the effects of plant based diets on the intestinal microbiome especially of juvenile Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are yet to be fully investigated. The present study demonstrates, based on 16S rDNA bacterial community profiling, that the intestinal microbiome of juvenile Rainbow trout is strongly affected by dietary plant protein inclusion levels. After first feeding of juveniles with either 0%, 50% or 97% of total dietary protein content derived from plants, statistically significant differences of the bacterial gut community for the three diet-types were detected, both at phylum and order level. The microbiome of juvenile fish consisted mainly of the phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Fusobacteria and Actinobacteria, and thus fits the salmonid core microbiome suggested in previous studies. Dietary plant proteins significantly enhanced the relative abundance of the orders Lactobacillales, Bacillales and Pseudomonadales. Animal proteins in contrast significantly promoted Bacteroidales, Clostridiales, Vibrionales, Fusobacteriales and Alteromonadales. The overall alpha diversity significantly decreased with increasing plant protein inclusion levels and with age of experimental animals. In order to investigate permanent effects of the first feeding diet-type on the early development of the microbiome, a diet change was included in the study after 54 days, but no such effects could be detected. Instead, the microbiome of juvenile trout fry was highly dependent on the actual diet fed at the time of sampling.

MeSH terms

  • Alteromonadaceae / genetics
  • Alteromonadaceae / isolation & purification
  • Animal Feed
  • Animals
  • Bacillales / genetics
  • Bacillales / isolation & purification
  • Bacteroides / genetics
  • Bacteroides / isolation & purification
  • Clostridiales / genetics
  • Clostridiales / isolation & purification
  • DNA, Ribosomal / genetics
  • Diet
  • Fusobacterium / genetics
  • Fusobacterium / isolation & purification
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome / genetics
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome / physiology*
  • Oncorhynchus mykiss / microbiology*

Substances

  • DNA, Ribosomal

Grants and funding

SCM was supported by the Helmholtz Graduate School for Ocean System Science and Technology (HOSST); Geomar Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel; http://www.geomar.de/studieren/phd/hosst/. JMR was supported by the NSERC CREATE Transatlantic Ocean System Science and Technology (TOSST); Dalhousie University; http://www.tosst.org/; NSERC DISCOVERY grant to JLR. The authors also acknowledge financial support from Land Schleswig-Holstein within the funding programme Open Access Publikationsfonds. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.