The host effects of Gambusia affinis with an antibiotic-disrupted microbiome

While serving as critical tools against bacterial infections, antimicrobial therapies can also result in serious side effects, such as antibiotic-associated entercolitis. Recent studies utilizing next generation sequencing to generate community 16S gene profiles have shown that antibiotics can strongly alter community composition and deplete diversity. However, how these community changes in the microbiota are related to the host side effects is still unclear. We have used the freshwater Western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) as a tractable vertebrate model system to study host effects following exposure to a broad spectrum antibiotic, rifampicin. After 3days of exposure, the bacterial communities of the mucosal skin and gut microbiomes lost diversity and shifted composition. Compared to unexposed controls, treated fish were more susceptible to a specific pathogen, Edwardsiella ictaluri, yet displayed no survival differences when subjected to a polymicrobial water challenge of soil or feces. Treated fish were more susceptible to osmotic stress from NaCl, but not to the toxin nitrate. Treated fish failed to gain weight as well as controls over one month when fed a matched diet. Because of small sample sizes, pathogen susceptibility and weight gain differences were not statistically significant. This study provides supporting evidence in an experimental laboratory system that an antibiotic can have significant and persistent negative host effects, and provides for future study into the mechanisms of these effects.