Bacterial communities associated with zebrafish larvae

Here, we used zebrafish and the fish pathogen Flavobacterium columnare as a model system to study the determinants of microbiota-associated colonization resistance. We compared infection susceptibility in germ-free, conventional and re-conventionalized larvae and showed that a consortium of 10 culturable bacterial species are sufficient to protect zebrafish. We further investigated resistance to infection by exposing established bacterial communities to different antibiotic perturbations, followed by direct challenge with F. columnare (to study core microbiota sensitivity to disturbance) or after recovery (to study its resilience)