A quantitative PCR based assay of disease discriminatory phyla for predicting the shrimp disease incidences

Increasing evidence has revealed that a normal gut microbiota contributes beneficial roles in host health, e.g., stimulating immune response, increasing nutrient acquisition and preventing pathogen colonization. Conversely, dysbiosis of the gut microbial composition is concurrent with shrimp disease pathogenesis and metabolic syndrome.Focusing on the most differentially abundant taxa between healthy and diseased subjects have identified microbial signatures that reflect biomarkers of disease. However, the above-mentioned works solely use the high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technique. Currently, HTS is still relative expensive and time-consuming, and requires a high technical ability. These limitations impede its application in routine monitor in aquaculture. In this regard, the cheap, rapid and handy features of quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) could overcome above shortcomings. Under these premises, it is promising to apply qPCR to detect the relative abundances of gut microbial signatures, which in turn offer biomarkers of disease.