title: pH drop impacts differentially skin and gut microbiota of the Amazonian fish tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum).
abstract: Aquatic organisms are increasingly exposed to lowering of environmental pH due to anthropogenic pressure (e.g. acid rain, acid mine drainages). Such acute variations trigger imbalance of fish-associated microbiota, which in turn favour opportunistic diseases. We used the tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum), an Amazonian fish tolerant to significant pH variation in its natural environment, to assess the response of fish endogenous microbiota to acute short-term acid stress. We exposed 36 specimens of tambaquis to acidic water (pH 4.0) over 2 consecutive weeks and sampled cutaneous mucus, feces and water at 0, 7 &14 days. The 16S RNA hypervariable region V4 was sequenced on Illumina MiSeq. After two weeks of acidic exposure, fecal and skin microbiota taxonomic structures exhibited different patterns: skin microbiota was still exhibiting a significantly disturbed composition whereas fecal microbiota recovered a similar composition to control group, thus suggesting a stronger resilience capacity of the intestinal microbiota than cutaneous microbiota.
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes (IBIS), Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: François-Étienne
authors.initials: FÉ
authors.lastname: Sylvain
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes (IBIS), Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Bachar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cheaib
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes (IBIS), Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.|School of Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Llewellyn
authors.affiliation: Federal University of Amapá (UNIFAP), AP 68.903-419, Brazil.
authors.forename: Tiago
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Gabriel Correia
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Laboratório de Ecofisiologia e Evolução Molecular, Manaus, AM, 69067-375, Brazil.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Barros Fagundes
authors.affiliation: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Laboratório de Ecofisiologia e Evolução Molecular, Manaus, AM, 69067-375, Brazil.
authors.forename: Adalberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Luis Val
authors.affiliation: Institut de Biologie Intégrative et des Systèmes (IBIS), Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Derome
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020562:Betaproteobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D060125:Characiformes / Q000382:microbiology; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome; D005880:Gills / Q000382:microbiology*; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S