Research on the Artemia nauplii microorganism compositions based on metagenomics next-generation sequencing

Vibrio species represent the predominant and significant pathogen in global marine fish and shellfish aquaculture. Vibrio species are ubiquitously presented in Artemia cyst hatcheries, and their notable colonization in live prey, particularly Artemia nauplii, leads to the transmission of these pathogens into the digestive system of larval organisms, causing serious problems in Vibriosis in marine aquaculture. To eliminate the Vibriospecies in Artemia nauplii, trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA) was used for sterilization of the nauplii. In this study, 3 different concentrations, including 0.5 ppm (FA group), 1.0 ppm (FB group) and 1.5 ppm (FC group) of TCCA were used to treat nauplii for 25 min, and then genomic DNA of the different groups were extracted followed by metagenomic next-generation sequencing (NGS). Bioinformatics analysis was applied and the results indicated that Proteobacter constituted the predominant component within each group at the phylum level, albeit accounting for only 58.68% in the FB group, which was significantly lower than in other groups (>86%). The relative abundance of Vibrio species at genus level showed that when compared with the control group, the FB group (15.8%) was reduced by 25.5%. Beta diversity showed differences between the FB group and the other groups, suggesting that treatment with 1.0ppm TCCA for 25 min would obviously reduce the Vibrio in Artemia nauplii. In conclusion, the Vibrio species were significantly reduced after treatment with TCCA, indicating that TCCA might be an alternative to antibiotics used for live food sterilization in marine aquaculture.