Microbiota Characterization of Free-living and Attached Bacterial Communities in a Biofloc-based Shrimp Aquaculture System

초록

Bacterial communities thriving in various aquaculture components determines the host’s health and water quality. Despite the growing application of biofloc technology in aquaculture, studies assessing the microbiota composition of bioflocs and comparing it to the peripheral rearing water remained scarce. Therefore, we examined the bioflocassociated (attached) and rearing water (free-living) bacterial communities of a commercial shrimp aquaculture system to ascertain how their diversity, community composition, inter-species interactions and functional potential varies. The obtained 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing showed that, despite sharing the same niche, the attached community harbors a higher bacterial richness and noticeably distinct community composition than the free-living community. Co-occurrence analysis showed a complex ecological network and strong inter-species interactions in the attached community. Furthermore, members of Halieaceae and Rhodobacteraceae were identified as major keystone taxa in the attached and free-living communities, respectively, highlighting their vital roles in sustaining the stability of these communities. Taken together, we proved that the attached and free-living bacterial communities served as two distinct microbial consortia, each performing different tasks, and hence might play diverse ecological roles in aquaculture.