Vertically and horizontally transmitted microbial symbionts shape the gut microbiota ontogenesis of a skin-mucus feeding discus fish progeny.

ABSTRACT: Fish gut microbial communities play key functions for their hosts, but their ontogenesis is poorly understood. Recent studies on the zebrafish suggest that gut symbionts are recruited naturally through horizontal transmission from environmental water. We used an alternative fish model, the discus (Symphysodon aequifasciata), to identify the main factors driving fish gut microbiota ontogenesis. The discus exhibits a unique parenting behavior: both discus parents vertically feed their fry with a cutaneous mucus secretion during three weeks post-hatching. We hypothesized that vertical microbial transmission via parental mucus feeding, along with horizontal transmission of environmental microbial symbionts, helps to shape the taxonomic structure of the discus fry gut microbiota. To assess this

SUBMITTER: Sylvain FE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5507859 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature