Oyster-Associated Microbiota

Zhen Li; Tuoen Liu

Zhen Li Washington State Department of Health, Public Health Laboratories, Shoreline, Washington 98155, USA.
Tuoen Liu Department of Biomedical Sciences, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, Lewisburg, West Virginia 24901, USA.

Keywords: Oyster, bacteria, microbiota, next-generation sequencing, pathogens

Abstract

Oysters are important mariculture species worldwide. Because of their filter-feeding behaviors, oysters contain complicated microbial populations, and these varying microbial populations can provide a correlation to increased oyster mortalities in the oyster farming industry as well as food outbreaks associated with public health surveillance. This review summarizes the significant outcomes in oyster microbiota research, including the identified oyster-associated bacterial taxa and comparison of different oyster tissues for microbial studies. In addition, environmental factors that could potentially affect the dynamics of oyster microbiota are discussed. Recent approaches developed to study oyster microbiota as well as their limitations are also highlighted in this review. Finally, future directions in oyster microbiota research have been suggested. In conclusion, microbiota from different oyster species have been analyzed in recent studies and several major microbial taxa have been identified. Different oyster tissues may contain diverse microbial contents, which may be suitable for various applications. Oyster microbiota could change due to different growing stages and environmental conditions. New emerging genomic analytical technologies have provided more accurate solutions for analyzing an ever-changing oyster microbiota.