Probiotic, Bacillus subtilis E20 alters the immunity of white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei via glutamine metabolism and hexosamine biosynthetic pathway

Abstract The purpose of this study was to profile the mechanisms of action of probiotic, Bacillus subtilis E20 in activating the immunity of white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Two groups of shrimp were studied. One group was fed a control diet without probiotic supplementation and the other was fed a probiotic-containing diet at a level of 109 cfu kg diet−1. After the 8-week feeding regimen, the metabolite composition in the hepatopancreas of shrimp were investigated using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H NMR) based metabolomic analysis. Results from the 1H NMR analysis revealed that 16 hepatopancreatic metabolites were matched and identified among groups, of which 2 metabolites, creatinine and glutamine were significantly higher in probiotic group than in the control group. This result was confirmed by the reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and spectrophotometric analysis. Transcriptome analysis indicated the expressions of 10 genes associated with antioxidant enzymes, pattern recognition proteins and antimicrobial molecules, more active expression in the shrimp fed a diet supplemented with probiotic as compared to that of shrimp in control. In addition, the expressions of 4 genes involved with hexosamine biosynthesis pathway (HBP) and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine-peptide N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase for protein O-glycosylation were also higher in hepatopancreas of probiotic-treated shrimp than in shrimp fed a control diet. Western blot and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that heat shock factor 1, heat shock protein 70, and protein O-glycosylation in hepatopancreas were higher in probiotic group than the control group. These findings suggest that probiotic, B. subtilis E20 promotes the digestibility of glutamine in the diet, and that the increased glutamine in shrimp can be used as fuel for immune cells or may be used to regulate immune molecule expressions and protein O-glycosylation via the HBP to increase protein O-glycosylation, thereby improving the health of shrimp.