Comparison of the composition and function of gut microbes between adult and juvenile Cipangopaludina chinensis in the rice snail system

Kangqi Zhou; Junqi Qin; Haifeng Pang; Zhong Chen; Yin Huang; Wenhong Li; Xuesong Du; Luting Wen; Xianhui Pan; Yong Lin

doi:10.7717/peerj.13042

Comparison of the composition and function of gut microbes between adult and juvenile Cipangopaludina chinensis in the rice snail system

PeerJ. 2022 Mar 8:10:e13042. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13042. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Kangqi Zhou^#¹, Junqi Qin^#¹, Haifeng Pang², Zhong Chen¹, Yin Huang¹, Wenhong Li², Xuesong Du¹, Luting Wen¹, Xianhui Pan¹, Yong Lin¹

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory for Aquatic Genetic Breeding and Healthy Aquaculture, Guangxi Academy of Fishery Sciences, Nanning, China.
² Guangxi University, Nanning, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Cipangopaludina chinensis is an important economic value snail species with high medicinal value. The gut microbes of aquatic animals plays a vital role in food digestion and nutrient absorption. Herein, we aimed at high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA to further investigate whether there were differences in the composition and function of gut microbes of adult and juvenile C. chinensis snails, as well as sediments. This study found that the microbial diversity of the sediment was significantly higher than that of the snails gut (P < 0.001), but there was no significant difference between the gut flora of adult and juvenile snails (P > 0.05). A total of 47 phyla and 644 genera were identified from all samples. Proteobacteria and Verrucomicrobia were the two dominant phyla in all samples, and overall relative abundances was 48.2% and 14.2%, respectively. Moreover, the relative abundances of Aeromonas and Luteolibacter in the gut of juvenile snails (30.8%, 11.8%) were higher than those of adults (27.7%, 10.6%) at the genus level (P > 0.05). Then, four indicator genera were found, namely Flavobacterium, Silanimonas, Geobacter and Zavarzinella, and they abundance in the gut of juvenile snails was significantly higher than that of adults (P < 0.05). This results imply the potential development of Silanimonas as a bait for juvenile snail openings. We observed that Aeromonas was the primary biomarker of the snail gut and sediments (P < 0.001), and it may be a cellulose-degrading bacteria. Function prediction revealed significantly better biochemical function in the snail gut than sediments (P < 0.001), but no significant differences in adult and juvenile snail (P > 0.05). In conclusion, studies show that the snail gut and sediment microbial composition differ, but the two were very similar. The microbial composition of the snail gut was relatively stable and has similar biological functions. These findings provide valuable information for in-depth understanding of the relationship between snails and environmental microorganisms.

Keywords: 16S rRNA; Cipangopaludina chinensis; Gut microbes; Rice snail system.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Food
Gastrointestinal Microbiome* / genetics
Oryza* / genetics
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / genetics
Snails / genetics

Substances

RNA, Ribosomal, 16S

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (2020GXNSFBA297067), the Guangxi Science and Technology Base and Talent Project (AD21220010), the National Modern Agricultural Technology System (nycytxgxcxtd-2021-08) and the Guangxi Innovation Driven Development Special Fund (AA20302019-5). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.