Comparative characterization of floc-associated and free-living bacterial communities in a biofloc-based Litopenaeus vannamei aquaculture system.

Bacterial communities thriving in various aquaculture components are considered crucial for host health and water quality in biofloc technology (BFT)-based aquaculture system. To ascertain how microbiota composition of bioflocs (attached community) varies from co-occurring rearing water (free-living community), samples were collected from biofloc-based commercial shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) aquaculture system, located in South Korea, and high-throughput Illumina sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons was employed.