Metagenomic Profiling of Bacterial Communities and Functional Genes in <i>Penaeus monodon</i>

• Published in: Journal of Marine Science and Engineering
• Main Authors: Juan Chen, Yundong Li, Song Jiang, Qibin Yang, Jianhua Huang, Lishi Yang, Jianzhi Shi, Zhibin Lu, Yan Zhang, Shigui Jiang, Falin Zhou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2024-08-01
• Subjects: metagenome; intestinal flora composition; functional genes
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1312/12/9/1481

<i>Penaeus monodon</i> is one of the world’s most important aquaculture species, with its host-associated microbial community playing a crucial role in its growth, metabolism, immune response, and adaptation. In our study, we utilized Illumina high-throughput sequencing to investigate the composition, structure, and function of the intestinal microbial communities of <i>P. monodon</i> from two different regions in Guangdong. Our results identified 176 phyla across both populations, with <i>Proteobacteria</i> and <i>Firmicutes</i> being predominant. Furthermore, we identified 3095 genera, with <i>Photobacterium</i>, <i>Vibrio</i>, and <i>Aliiroseovarius</i> being the most dominant. Functional gene analysis based on KEGG data indicated that the carbohydrate metabolism and amino acid metabolism were significant at the secondary metabolic pathway level. The eggNOG functional annotation revealed that the genes involved in replication, recombination, and repair are of paramount importance. The CAZy annotation results indicated that Glycoside Hydrolases (GH) have the highest abundance. The Pfam annotation analysis showed that the two most prevalent domains are P-loop NTPase and NADP Rossmann. Our investigation provides a reference for species-level and functional-level analyses of the intestinal microbiota of <i>P. monodon</i>, contributing valuable insights into its microbial ecology.