Oncorhynchus mykiss Metagenome. gut metagenome

The overall goal of this study is to fingerprint the microbiome of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, in order to understand its relationship with mucosal immunity and stress. The importance of the microbial community to the development of some mammalian vertebrates has been well characterized, however the mucosal microbiomes of rainbow trout have not. The mucosal sites of the gut, skin and gills are responsible for different physiological functions that are reflected in differential morphological adaptations. While there is not much information on the immune function of the nose within teleost, this also is a mucosal site. No studies have been done within teleost to characterize multiple mucosal sites within rainbow trout. There are two specific aims for this study: 1. Microbial survey of the rainbow trout (O. mykiss) mucosal sites, these specific sites being the anterior gut, the posterior gut, the skin, the nose and the gills. This will be accomplished using 16S bacterial rRNA pyrosequencing with the 454 Roche titanium GS FLX platform. 2. Determination of the effect of stress upon the skin microbiome of rainbow trout, and skin mucosal immunity. This will be achieved using two different models, a transport stress model and a cortisol injection model.