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Community assembly of a euryhaline fish microbiome during salinity acclimation
Victor T Schmidt1, Katherine F Smith, Donald W Melvin
1Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Brown University, Providence, RI, 02912, USA; The Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA.
Molecular Ecology
|March 31, 2015
Summary
Fish microbiomes assemble through deterministic processes, where bacterial competition within the host environment dictates community composition, not random colonization from surrounding water.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Ecology
- Host-Microbe Interactions
Background:
- Microbiomes are crucial for host functions, with community composition determining function.
- Understanding microbiome assembly from regional species pools is essential for host health.
- Hypothesized drivers include competition, stochastic colonization, and host-specific filters.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize bacterial communities in a euryhaline fish and tank water during salinity acclimation.
- To assess the relative influence of stochastic versus deterministic processes on fish microbiome assembly.
Main Methods:
- Manipulated the bacterial species pool by altering aquarium water salinity.
- Characterized bacterial communities in fish and surrounding water during acclimation.
- Assessed the correlation between fish microbiome changes and tank water community dynamics.
Main Results:
- Observed complete and repeatable turnover of dominant bacterial taxa in fish microbiomes after salinity acclimation.
- Fish microbiome changes were uncorrelated with abundant taxa in tank water.
- Dominant fish taxa were rare in surrounding water, and vice versa, indicating host-specific selection.
Conclusions:
- Deterministic processes, specifically bacterial competition within the host's salinity-specific environment, drive fish microbiome assembly.
- Little evidence supports stochastic colonization as a primary driver in this experimental setup.
- Host-environment interactions significantly shape microbiome composition, independent of external species pool abundance.
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