PUBLICATION

Mining zebrafish microbiota reveals key community-level resistance against fish pathogen infection

Authors
Stressmann, F.A., Bernal-Bayard, J., Perez-Pascual, D., Audrain, B., Rendueles, O., Briolat, V., Bruchmann, S., Volant, S., Ghozlane, A., Häussler, S., Duchaud, E., Levraud, J.P., Ghigo, J.M.
ID
ZDB-PUB-201021-13
Date
2020
Source
The ISME Journal   15(3): 702-719 (Journal)
Registered Authors
Briolat, Valerie, Levraud, Jean-Pierre
Keywords
none
MeSH Terms
  • Animals
  • Dysbiosis
  • Flavobacterium/genetics
  • Microbiota*
  • Zebrafish*
PubMed
33077888 Full text @ ISME J.
Abstract
The long-known resistance to pathogens provided by host-associated microbiota fostered the notion that adding protective bacteria could prevent or attenuate infection. However, the identification of endogenous or exogenous bacteria conferring such protection is often hindered by the complexity of host microbial communities. 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 reconventionalized larvae and showed that a consortium of 10 culturable bacterial species are sufficient to protect zebrafish. Whereas survival to F. columnare infection does not rely on host innate immunity, we used antibiotic dysbiosis to alter zebrafish microbiota composition, leading to the identification of two different protection strategies. We first identified that the bacterium Chryseobacterium massiliae individually protects both larvae and adult zebrafish. We also showed that an assembly of 9 endogenous zebrafish species that do not otherwise protect individually confer a community-level resistance to infection. Our study therefore provides a rational approach to identify key endogenous protecting bacteria and promising candidates to engineer resilient microbial communities. It also shows how direct experimental analysis of colonization resistance in low-complexity in vivo models can reveal unsuspected ecological strategies at play in microbiota-based protection against pathogens.
Genes / Markers
Figures
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Antibodies
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping