Predatory bacteria in the haemolymph of the cultured spiny lobster Panulirus ornatus
Bdellovibrio and like organisms (BALOs) are Gram-negative obligate predators of other bacteria in a range of environments. The recent discovery of BALOs in the circulatory system of cultured spiny lobster P. ornatus warrants more investigation. We used a combination of co-culture agar and broth assays and transmission electron microscopy to show a Halobacteriovorax sp. strain Hbv preyed upon the model prey bacterium Vibrio sp. strain Vib. The haemolymph microbiome of juvenile P. ornatus was characterised following injection of phosphate buffered saline (control) or prey and/or predator bacteria for 3 d. The predator Hbv had no effect on survival compared to the control after 3 d. However, when compared to the prey only treatment group, lobsters injected with both prey and predator showed significantly lower abundance of genus Vibrio in the haemolymph bacterial community composition. This study indicates that predatory bacteria are not pathogenic and may assist in controlling microbial population growth in the haemolymph of lobsters.
Funding
Australian Research Council
UTAS Nexus Aquasciences Pty Ltd
History
Publication title
MicrobiologyVolume
167Issue
11Article number
001113Number
001113Pagination
1-12ISSN
1350-0872Department/School
Institute for Marine and Antarctic StudiesPublisher
Soc General MicrobiologyPlace of publication
Marlborough House, Basingstoke Rd, Spencers Woods, Reading, England, Berks, Rg7 1AgRights statement
© 2021 The Authors. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.Repository Status
- Open