Early infection with white spot syndrome virus promotes changes in the gut microbiome and immune-energy related genes of shrimps Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931)

Abstract

The white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is currently the main threat to the shrimp industry due to significant economic losses associated with shrimp mortality. The first hours of host-parasite interactions are crucial for the fate of WSSV infection, which becomes irreversible after 72 h. During this critical period, there is still a limited understanding of the interaction between the gut microbiota and the host response. In this study, we evaluated the effect of WSSV on the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamaei (Boone, 1931) at the gut microbiome level and the expression of four genes in hemocytes and hepatopancreas associated with aerobic (ATP synthase) and anaerobic (LDH) metabolism, cell pathogen internalization (AP-2), and immune response (α2M). The genes LDH and α2M were overexpressed in hemocytes and hepatopancreas, while the AP-2 gene was overexpressed only in hemocytes. In infected shrimps, we observed a positive correlation between the increase in viral load (VL), the upregulation of the genes LDH and AP-2, and the augmentation of the relative abundance of Ideonella, Actinobacter, Flavobacterium, Caldalkalibacillus, Gemmobacter, Pirellula, Metilophylus, Hydrogenophaga, Pseudomona, Methylophaga, Candidatus Bacilloplasma, and Novosphingobium. Whereas the gut microbiome in uninfected shrimps was represented by Motilimonas, Tamlana, Shimia, Spongiimonas, Pseudoalteromonas, Aeromones, and Shewanella. Results from this study contribute to understanding the intricate interplay between WSSV infection, the host response, and gut microbiota in aquaculture settings.