The Development of the Bacterial Community of Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) during Ontogeny

Brown trout (Salmo trutta) is an important aquaculture species in Germany, but its production faces challenges due to global warming and a high embryo mortality. Climate factors might influence the fish’s bacterial community (BC) and thus increase embryo mortality. Yet, knowledge of the physiological BC during ontogeny in general is scarce. In this project, the BC of brown trout has been investigated in a period from unfertilized egg to 95 days post fertilization (dpf) using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Developmental changes differed between early and late ontogeny and major differences in BC occurred especially during early developmental stages. Thus, analysis was conducted separately for 0 to 67 dpf and from 67 to 95 dpf. All analyzed stages were sampled in toto to avoid bias due to different sampling methods in different developmental stages. The most abundant phylum in the BC of all developmental stages was Pseudomonadota, while only two families (Comamonadaceae and Moraxellaceae) occurred in all developmental stages. The early developmental stages until 67 dpf displayed greater shifts in their BC regarding bacterial richness, microbial diversity, and taxonomic composition. Thereafter, in the fry stages, the BC seemed to stabilize and changes were moderate. In future studies, a reduction in the sampling time frames during early development, an increase in sampling numbers, and an attempt for biological reproduction in order to characterize the causes of these variations is recommended.