TO BE OR NOT TO BE DISEASED: THE EFFECTS OF MICROBIOME ON PARASITIC INFECTIONS IN FARMED SEABASS

STUDENT SEMINAR IN BIODIVERSITY AND EVOLUTION

One of the major challenges in aquaculture is management and control of parasites and bacterial pathogens, which account for huge economic losses. Numerous studies in mammal hosts have shown that commensal microbes (i.e. microbiome) play a key role in disease outcome with several different components of the microbiome being linked to disease resistant and susceptible hosts. Aquaculture practices increase the risk of dysbiosis (i.e. microbial imbalance), known to facilitate pathogen infections. Routine administration of antibiotics in fish farms is also highly likely to decrease microbial diversity, diminishing competition and facilitating the proliferation of opportunistic bacterial pathogens. For this reason monitoring microbial communities of farmed fish is of utmost importance both to explore the links between the microbiome and disease susceptibility in fish, and to explore the usefulness of probiotics (opposed to antibiotics) in disease management.

In this Seminar, I will present my PhD plan, and I will present the results from the first comprehensive assessment of seabass and seabream microbiomes in both skin and gills of adult fish. Additionally I will present preliminary data on the microbial shifts that occur before and during the course of a disease outbreak, including the response to antibiotic treatment.

Daniela Rosado has done her Master’s degree in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (CIBIO-InBIO) with a thesis on evolutionary genetic and phylogeography. Currently she is starting the 2nd year of her PhD working on fish microbiome and the correlation with diseases between CIBIO-InBIO and Cardiff University.

[Host: Raquel Xavier, Ecology and Evolution of Aquatic Organisms]

Image credits: Daniela Rosado