Intestinal Flatulence in Pampus argenteus: Changes in Gut Microbiota

Pampus argenteus is a commercially valuable species in many countries. Its artificial cultivation has been impacted by intestinal flatulence, leading to increased mortality. However, the role of gut microbiota in this process remains unclear. Therefore, this study utilized high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes to investigate the gut microbiota in both flatulent and healthy P. argenteus. A total of 227571 high-quality and classifiable reads, representing 312 Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs), were obtained. Proteobacteria emerged as the predominant phylum in all samples, with the flatulent group displaying the highest relative abundance (85.3%). Microbial diversity was significantly greater in samples from water than those from tissues. Composition analysis using Bray-Curtis distance via CPCoA revealed distinct gut microbiota compositions between the samples with flatulence and the healthy samples. Co-occurrence network analysis demonstrated that the bacterial community in the flatulent group exhibited disorder due to the high abundance of Vibrio. Functional predictive analysis (PICRUSt2) indicated that flatulence in P. argenteus was associated with impaired methane and lipid metabolism, potentially resulting in excessive methane synthesis utilizing hydrogen and acetic acid as substrates produced by Clostridium sensu stricto 1, Cetobacterium, and Peptoclostridium. This study holds significant implications for early diagnosis and prevention of intestinal flatulence through the regulation of gut microbiota.