Microbial community changes in the digestive tract of the clam Meretrix petechialis in response to Vibrio parahaemolyticus challenge

Disease in clams frequently occurred over the last decade and has become a serious threat to the clam aquaculture industry and natural stocks. Mass clam mortality events were reported to be associated with the presence of opportunistic pathogen vibrio. However, the complexity of infection that occurs in the natural environment remains poorly understood. In this study, we smulated a natural disease outbreak by vibrio immersion infection to study the diversity and dynamics of microbiota in the digestive tract of clam Meretrix petechialis during the infection process. Dramatic changes in operational taxonomic unit richness and phylum composition of the bacterial communities were observed during pathogen invasion. In addition, we investigated the potential relationship between microbiota dynamics and host status during disease progression. Results reveal that, at the end stage of vibrio infection, interindividual variation in the digestive tract microbiota increased, as did the difference in individual health status. The moribund clams displayed signs of microbial community shifts to low diversity, and the microbial community was characterized by mass proliferation of a few operational taxonomic units.