sea cucumber microbiome

Regeneration of host organs and/or body parts involves reconstruction of the host associated microbiota, however, the dynamics and contribution of microbiota to the regeneration processes are largely unknown due to a lack of experimental models. To establish an experimental model using sea cucumbers, both caged mariculture and laboratory feeding systems of sea cucumber (Apostichopus japonicus) to track the dynamics of individual gut microbiomes during gut regeneration were developed and applied to longitudinal meta16S analyses.