Environmental sex reversal in parrotfish does not cause differences in the structure of their gut microbial communities

Abstract Parrotfish are a common fish in coral reef areas, but little is known about their gut microbial communities. In addition, parrotfish are capable of sex reversal, usually some males are sexually reversed from females, and it is still not known whether this sex reversal leads to significant c...

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Main Authors: Jingcheng Dai, Teng Wang, Shunda Qiu, Xiaoxue Qi, Juntao Zeng, Changcui Chen, Siqi Wu, Dongru Qiu, Shijie Bai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2024-12-01
Series:BMC Microbiology
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-024-03698-3
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author Jingcheng Dai
Teng Wang
Shunda Qiu
Xiaoxue Qi
Juntao Zeng
Changcui Chen
Siqi Wu
Dongru Qiu
Shijie Bai
author_facet Jingcheng Dai
Teng Wang
Shunda Qiu
Xiaoxue Qi
Juntao Zeng
Changcui Chen
Siqi Wu
Dongru Qiu
Shijie Bai
author_sort Jingcheng Dai
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Parrotfish are a common fish in coral reef areas, but little is known about their gut microbial communities. In addition, parrotfish are capable of sex reversal, usually some males are sexually reversed from females, and it is still not known whether this sex reversal leads to significant changes in gut microbial communities. In this study, we investigated the gut microbial communities of three species of parrotfish including Scarus forsteni (4 females and 4 sex-reversed males), Scarus ghobban (5 females and 5 sex-reversed males), and Hipposcarus longiceps (5 females and 5 sex-reversed males) by using high-throughput sequencing technology. The gut microbial communities of these three species were mainly composed of Pseudomonadota (class Gammaproteobacteria) and Bacillota, while at the family level, they mainly included Vibrionaceae, Burkholderiaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Streptococcacea, and Erwiniaceae. Although at the genus level, there were a large number of unclassified lineages, the remaining gut microorganisms were mainly composed of Vibrio, Photobacterium, Enterococcus and Lactococcus. Furthermore, we did not find significant differences in gut microbial community structure between the female parrotfish and corresponding female reversed males within each species, even in terms of the structure of gut microbial functional information obtained from 16 S rRNA gene sequence predictions. However, the gut microbial communities of these three species of parrotfish differed significantly not only in their community structure but also in their microbial functional information structure, mainly in terms of aspartate and asparagine biosynthesis, histidine degradation, inositol degradation, heptose biosynthesis, chitin derivatives degradation, enterobactin biosynthesis, and thiazole biosynthesis. Our study provides essential gut microbial community data for understanding the physiology and sex reversal phenomenon in parrotfish.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1471-2180
language English
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series BMC Microbiology
spelling doaj-art-efa98e48e51942adaa256b8484b857672024-12-22T12:18:36ZengBMCBMC Microbiology1471-21802024-12-0124111810.1186/s12866-024-03698-3Environmental sex reversal in parrotfish does not cause differences in the structure of their gut microbial communitiesJingcheng Dai0Teng Wang1Shunda Qiu2Xiaoxue Qi3Juntao Zeng4Changcui Chen5Siqi Wu6Dongru Qiu7Shijie Bai8School of Life Science and Technology, Wuhan Polytechnic UniversityScientific Observation and Research Station of Xisha Island Reef Fishery Ecosystem of Hainan Province, Sanya Tropical Fisheries Research InstituteSchool of Life Science and Technology, Wuhan Polytechnic UniversityInstitute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of SciencesSchool of Life Science and Technology, Wuhan Polytechnic UniversitySchool of Life Science and Technology, Wuhan Polytechnic UniversityInstitute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of SciencesInstitute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of SciencesAbstract Parrotfish are a common fish in coral reef areas, but little is known about their gut microbial communities. In addition, parrotfish are capable of sex reversal, usually some males are sexually reversed from females, and it is still not known whether this sex reversal leads to significant changes in gut microbial communities. In this study, we investigated the gut microbial communities of three species of parrotfish including Scarus forsteni (4 females and 4 sex-reversed males), Scarus ghobban (5 females and 5 sex-reversed males), and Hipposcarus longiceps (5 females and 5 sex-reversed males) by using high-throughput sequencing technology. The gut microbial communities of these three species were mainly composed of Pseudomonadota (class Gammaproteobacteria) and Bacillota, while at the family level, they mainly included Vibrionaceae, Burkholderiaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Streptococcacea, and Erwiniaceae. Although at the genus level, there were a large number of unclassified lineages, the remaining gut microorganisms were mainly composed of Vibrio, Photobacterium, Enterococcus and Lactococcus. Furthermore, we did not find significant differences in gut microbial community structure between the female parrotfish and corresponding female reversed males within each species, even in terms of the structure of gut microbial functional information obtained from 16 S rRNA gene sequence predictions. However, the gut microbial communities of these three species of parrotfish differed significantly not only in their community structure but also in their microbial functional information structure, mainly in terms of aspartate and asparagine biosynthesis, histidine degradation, inositol degradation, heptose biosynthesis, chitin derivatives degradation, enterobactin biosynthesis, and thiazole biosynthesis. Our study provides essential gut microbial community data for understanding the physiology and sex reversal phenomenon in parrotfish.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-024-03698-3ParrotfishSex reversalGut microflora16S rRNA gene sequenceMicrobial communities
spellingShingle Jingcheng Dai
Teng Wang
Shunda Qiu
Xiaoxue Qi
Juntao Zeng
Changcui Chen
Siqi Wu
Dongru Qiu
Shijie Bai
Environmental sex reversal in parrotfish does not cause differences in the structure of their gut microbial communities
BMC Microbiology
Parrotfish
Sex reversal
Gut microflora
16S rRNA gene sequence
Microbial communities
title Environmental sex reversal in parrotfish does not cause differences in the structure of their gut microbial communities
title_full Environmental sex reversal in parrotfish does not cause differences in the structure of their gut microbial communities
title_fullStr Environmental sex reversal in parrotfish does not cause differences in the structure of their gut microbial communities
title_full_unstemmed Environmental sex reversal in parrotfish does not cause differences in the structure of their gut microbial communities
title_short Environmental sex reversal in parrotfish does not cause differences in the structure of their gut microbial communities
title_sort environmental sex reversal in parrotfish does not cause differences in the structure of their gut microbial communities
topic Parrotfish
Sex reversal
Gut microflora
16S rRNA gene sequence
Microbial communities
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-024-03698-3
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