A meta-analysis revealing the technical, environmental, and host-associated factors that shape the gut microbiota of Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout

Salmonids, specifically Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), are commonly farmed and their gut microbiota plays important roles for optimal growth, health, and physiology. However, differences in experimental design, technical factors and bioinformatics make it challenging to compare the results from different studies and draw general conclusions about their influence on the fish gut microbiota. For a more comprehensive understanding of the gut microbiota, we collected all the publicly accessible 16S rRNA gene sequencing data with clearly stated sample metadata from freshwater Atlantic salmon and rainbow trout intestinal contents and mucosa sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform. A total of 783 samples from 19 published studies were included in this meta-analysis to test the impact of the technical, environmental, and host-accociated factors. This meta-analysis revealed that all the tested factors significantly influenced the alpha and beta diversities of the gut microbiota of salmon and trout. Technical factors, especially target region and DNA extraction kit, affected the beta diversity to a larger extent, while host-associated and environmental factors, especially diet and initial fish weight, had a higher impact on the alpha diversity. Salmon had a higher alpha diversity and higher abundance of Enterococcus and Staphylococcus than trout, which had higher abundance of Weissella and Mycoplasma. The results of this meta-analysis fill in a critical knowledge gap that demonstrate technical methodologies must be standardized and factors associated with host and environment need to be accounted for in the future design of salmonid gut microbiota experiments. A systematic meta-analysis of 19 studies found that technical factors (target region and DNA extraction kit) had the most significant effects on the fish gut microbiota followed by environmental factors (diet and rearing system) and host factors (initial weight, intestinal region and fish species). Images from Biorender.com. image