Consensus on the gut bacterial signatures and ecological processes in response to shrimp diseases

We conducted a meta-analysis combining and reanalyzing available bacterial 16S rRNA sequence datasets to explore divergences in the gut microbiota between healthy and diseased shrimp. The gut bacterial communities of healthy shrimp varied significantly (P < 0.05 in each comparison) over ontogenetic stages, and were distinct from the corresponding diseased cohorts at each stage. Multivariate dispersion test and phylogenetic-based mean nearest taxon distance analysis revealed that deterministic processes shaped the gut microbiotas of healthy shrimp, while their relative importance substantially decreased when disease occurred. Partitioning beta diversity indicated that temporal turnover governed the gut microbiota as healthy shrimp aged, whereas it was retarded in disease cohorts, concurrent with increased nestedness.