Comparison of cultivable bacterial communities associated with Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) larvae at different health statuses and growth stages

Advances, challenges, and directions in shrimp disease control: the guidelines from an ecological perspective

“…Indeed, recent reviews have highlight the importance of ecological theory to manipulate intestinal microbiota for disease control in aquaculture (De Schryver and Vadstein 2014;Ninawe and Selvin 2009). In contrast, we note the substantial variations of the intestinal probiotics and pathogens over shrimp growth stages (Rungrassamee et al 2013;Zheng et al 2016), thus infer therapeutic strategies based on shrimp age, especially establishment of a desired gut microbiota in larvae guided by ecological theory. In addition, we briefly summarize the currently available methods that qualitatively evaluate shrimp status.…”

“…However, Vibrio species have been frequently isolated from the intestines of healthy shrimp as well as surrounding water samples (Zheng et al 2016). Thus, it appears that there is no causal association between the total viable Vibrio counts and the outbreak of shrimp disease (Sung et al 2001).…”

“…Recently, there is evidence, albeit limited, showing that healthy and diseased shrimp have distinct intestinal bacterial communities (Xiong et al 2015b;Zheng et al 2016). The most common members of healthy communities are known probiotics, while potentially pathogenic species are more frequently isolated from diseased samples (Zheng et al 2016).…”

“…In a healthy state, beneficial and pathogenic bacteria co-exist. Probiotics can stimulate the immune system (Boutin et al 2013;Zheng et al 2016), decrease the metabolic activities of toxic microbes (Round and Mazmanian 2009), and compete with pathogens for nutrients and ecological niche (Guarner and Malagelada 2003) to maintain shrimp health. Conversely, under environmental stress, such as significantly increased COD, NO 2 − , and PO 4 3− concentrations in ponds with diseased shrimp, the composition of the ambient microbiota is disrupted and results in an enrichment of potential pathogens and decreased probiotic species (Xiong et al 2014b).…”

“…Therefore, the traditional application of Vibrio pathogens as surrogates for disease prediction and targeting is unwarranted, as newly identified pathogenic bacteria, such as Streptococcus sp. (Hasson et al 2009), Nautella italica, and Pseudoalteromonas piscicida (Zheng et al 2016), have been regularly isolated from shrimp ponds. The relative abundance of Vibrio species accounts for a small portion (<0.2 %) of the bacterioplankton community, which is unchanged between ponds with healthy and diseased shrimp (Zhang et al 2014).…”