title: High diversity of skin-associated bacterial communities of marine fishes is promoted by their high variability among body parts, individuals and species.
abstract: Animal-associated microbiotas form complex communities, which are suspected to play crucial functions for their host fitness. However, the biodiversity of these communities, including their differences between host species and individuals, has been scarcely studied, especially in case of skin-associated communities. In addition, the intraindividual variability (i.e. between body parts) has never been assessed to date. The objective of this study was to characterize skin bacterial communities of two teleostean fish species, namely the European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), using a high-throughput DNA sequencing method. In order to focus on intrinsic factors of host-associated bacterial community variability, individuals of the two species were raised in controlled conditions. Bacterial diversity was assessed using a set of four complementary indices, describing the taxonomic and phylogenetic facets of biodiversity and their respective composition (based on presence/absence data) and structure (based on species relative abundances) components. Variability of bacterial diversity was quantified at the interspecific, interindividual and intraindividual scales. We demonstrated that fish surfaces host highly diverse bacterial communities, whose composition was very different from that of surrounding bacterioplankton. This high total biodiversity of skin-associated communities was supported by the important variability, between host species, individuals and the different body parts (dorsal, anal, pectoral and caudal fins).
authors.affiliation: UMR 9190 Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation (MARBEC), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, IFREMER, Place Eugène Bataillon, Case 093, 34 095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France marlene.chiarello@univ-montp2.fr.
authors.forename: Marlène
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chiarello
authors.affiliation: UMR 9190 Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation (MARBEC), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, IFREMER, Place Eugène Bataillon, Case 093, 34 095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Villéger
authors.affiliation: UMR 9190 Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation (MARBEC), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, IFREMER, Place Eugène Bataillon, Case 093, 34 095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bouvier
authors.affiliation: UMR 9190 Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation (MARBEC), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, IFREMER, Place Eugène Bataillon, Case 093, 34 095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Yvan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bettarel
authors.affiliation: UMR 9190 Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation (MARBEC), Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IRD, IFREMER, Place Eugène Bataillon, Case 093, 34 095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bouvier
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001492:Bass / Q000382:microbiology*; D044822:Biodiversity; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D021541:Sea Bream / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: Dicentrarchus labrax; Sparus aurata; next generation sequencing; phylogenetic diversity; skin microbiome