High-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA amplicons characterizes gut microbiota shift of juvenile sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus feeding with three antibiotics

Sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus is an important marine economic species in Asian countries due to its profound nutritional and medicinal value. So far, with the rapid development of intensified artificial aquaculture of sea cucumbers, the use of antibiotics is still an inexpensive and dispensable way to treat pathogenic infections, especially during the nursery phase. However, there is little information on the effects of antibiotics on the intestinal microbiota of sea cucumber. Therefore an Illumina based sequencing method was used to examine the intestinal bacterial composition of juvenile A. japonicas following diets with three typical antibiotics (tetracycline, erythromycin, and norfloxacin) under 15, 30, and 45 d. The findings reveal that different antibiotics have distinct effects on the growth performance of juvenile sea cucumbers. However, the richness and diversity of microbiota were barely affected by antibiotics but the community composition alterations indicated that the three antibiotics exhibited their respective patterns of reshaping the intestinal bacteria of juvenile sea cucumbers. In common, the abundance of some sensitive genera with helpful functions, such as Thalassotalea, Shewanella, Sulfitobacter, and Halomonas decreased significantly with exposure to antibiotics and the abundance of multiple potential pathogenic- and suspected antibiotic-resistant microorganisms like Arcobacter, Leucothrix, and Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 was found increased significantly in the antibiotic groups. These results suggest that low doses of antibiotics could affect the composition of the intestinal microbiota of sea cucumbers and might increase the risk of infection of the hosts. This study could help us to explore how antibacterial compounds modify the gut microbiota of sea cucumbers and provide theoretical guidance in hatchery management by scientific antibiotic use in sea cucumber mariculture.