Bacterial community characterization of rearing water of marine recirculating aquaculture systems for yellow grouper (Epinephelus awoara)

This study was aimed to reveal the bacterial community characteristics of rearing water of marine recirculating aquaculture system for yellow grouper (Epinephelus awoara), and compare the differences between bacterial community structure of healthy rearing water and sick rearing water in order to elucidate the relationship between bacterial community and fish disease.The next generation sequencing method was used, and the bacterial community structure and α-diversity indices (species richness, species evenness and phylogenetic diversity) between the rearing water of healthy and diseased groups were studied and compared. In addition, the traditional cultivation method was used to isolate suspected pathogens from the niduses of diseased yellow groupers.There was no significant difference between the α-diversities of healthy and diseased rearing water bodies, however, the results of principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) and the sample clustering of heatmap showed that the bacterial communities of healthy and diseased rearing water bodies were quite different. Although phyla Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia and Bacteroidetes were all the predominant ones in both communities, their relative abundance varied greatly. In diseased community, the relative abundances of α-Proteobacteria (25.07%) and γ-Protebacteria (22.74%) were similar, whereas the proportion of γ-Protebacteria (40.49%) was much higher than α-Proteobacteria (10.87%) in the healthy community. The differences of Verrucomicrobia and Bacteroidetes between the healthy and the diseased rearing water were also significant with relative abundances of 10.9% and 26.4%, and 20.9% and 12.3%, respectively. The significantly different families were Rhodobacteraceae and Rhodospirillaceae within class α-Proteobacteria; Alteromonadaceae and HTCC2188 within class γ-Protebacteria; Verrucomicrobiaceae within Verrucomicrobia; Cryomorphaceae within Bacteroidetes. The healthy and the diseased communities owned specific core microbes themselves. Glaciecola, HTCC, Sediminicola and Prevotella were the core genera in healthy rearing water, and Vibrio, Rubritalea and Oleibacter in diseased rearing water. Twenty strains of Vibrio spp. and one of Acinetobacter haemolyticus were isolated from skin, liver and spleen of diseased yellow grouper.The shift of bacterial community structure and relative abundance of rearing water will help monitor the healthy status of recirculating aquaculture system. Our study provides theory and experimental basis to diagnosis and monitor of Vibrio disease for yellow grouper recirculating aquaculture system.