Bacterial Community in the Gut of Neanthes japonica and Its Association with Surrounding Environment

Abstract

Neanthes japonica has high commercial value. The gut microbes in N. japonica can maintain the normal biological functions of the host. However, information on the gut bacterial community of N. japonica and its relationship with the surrounding environment is unclear. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing technology to investigate the bacterial communities in the gut of N. japonica and soil. The results showed that the bacterial community diversity and structure differed obviously between the gut and soil samples. Bacterial richness and diversity in the gut samples decreased considerably compared to soil samples. In addition, dominant bacterial taxa varied significantly between the gut and soil samples. The dominant phyla in the gut and soil samples were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidota and Planctomycetota. The dominant genus in the gut was Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia, while the dominant genera in the soil were Woeseia and Subgroup_23. In conclusion, the similarity between the bacterial communities in soil and the gut of N. japonica was small, indicating that soil had little effect on the establishment of the gut bacterial community. This study provides a better understanding of the gut bacterial community in N. japonica and the influence of the external environment on the colonization of the gut bacterial community.