Differences in the gut microbiota between wild and domestic Acipenser ruthenus evaluated by Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis

The intestinal microbiota of fish is composed of a collection of aerobic, facultative anaerobic and obligate anaerobic bacteria that are assumed to play an important role in digestion and disease control. Fish intestinal microbiota changes with a lot of factors like water quality, culture systems, species, age, diet etc. The present study focuses on microbial diversity in the intestinal tract of the sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus, Linnaeus, 1758). The fish were collected from Lower Danube River (wild) and from an Industrial Flow-Through Aquaculture System - FTAS (domestic). Intestinal content was characterized by molecular methods. Genomic DNA was extracted from each fish gut and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify the conserved 16S ribosomal RNA gene. Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis (DGGE) of PCR amplified 16S rDNA were used to analyze the microbial community diversity and community organization in the gut. The results showed different microbial profiles from domestic and wild sterlet. PCR-DGGE profile revealed high diversity of microbiota in domestic fish.