Bacterial community dynamics following antibiotic exposure in a trematode parasite.

Parasites harbour rich microbial communities that may play a role in host-parasite interactions, from influencing the parasites infectivity to modulating its virulence. Experimental manipulation of a parasites microbes would be essential, however, in order to establish their causal role. Here, we tested whether indirect exposure of a trematode parasite within its snail intermediate host to a variety of antibiotics could alter its bacterial community. Based on sequencing the prokaryotic 16S SSU rRNA gene, we characterised and compared the bacterial community of the trematode Philophthalmus attenuatus before, shortly after, and weeks after exposure to different antibiotics, i.e penicillin, colistin, gentamicin, with distinct activity spectra.