Metabolomics Analysis of Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) Exposed to Vibrio cholerae Toxin

Vibrio cholerae (V. cholerae) is a type of bacterium that causes cholera, a severe diarrheal disease globally affecting hundreds of people annually. Oysters are filter-feeding animals that can collect and store large amounts of bacteria from the water, including V. cholerae. However, the effect of the V. cholerae toxin on oyster metabolite signatures has not been well studied. Metabolomics has been reported to study small molecules (metabolites) in shellfish, which is a powerful tool to investigate animals’ responses to environmental toxins. In this study, NMR-based metabolomics was applied to investigate the metabolic level response of Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) to cholerae toxin (CT), under low concentrations (1, 10, and 20 ng/mL). Both the gill (including mantle) and the hemolymph of the oysters were analyzed.