Shelf-life extension of pita bread by modified atmosphere packaging.

Abstract

The skin mucus of teleost fish harbors a complex microbial community that is continually interacting with the aquatic environment. Despite zebrafish, <i>Danio rerio</i>, serving as a model organism in a myriad of research fields, very little is known about the composition and role of the skin mucus microbiome. The purpose of this study was to determine a simple sampling method for the skin mucus microbiome, identify prominent bacterial members, and compare its composition to the microbial community of the surrounding environment. Next-generation sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was performed on skin mucus and filtered tank water samples. Results show that prominent bacterial members of the skin mucus in zebrafish include Actinobacteria (<i>Mycobacteriaceae</i>) and Gammaproteobacteria (<i>Aeromonadaceae</i>), followed by Alphaproteobacteria and Betaproteobacteria. The tank water contained much higher bacterial diversity and was clearly different from the skin mucus microbiome, despite continuous interaction. This study identifies a straightforward sampling method for the zebrafish skin mucus microbiome, enabling hypothesis generation on the role of ectosymbionts on host and microbiome health.