BACTERIAL COMMUNITY DIVERSITY ASSOCIATED WITH HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY SHRIMP (ACUTE HEPATOPANCREATIC NECROSIS DISEASE) FROM SHRIMP FARM IN MALAYSIA

Bacterial community diversity of healthy and unhealthy shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) of Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND) collected from shrimp farms in Kedah and Penang, Malaysia were examined using a cultivation method and 16S rRNA gene analysis. This study aimed to describe and identify the major abundance of shrimp's bacterial communities and its relationship with different shrimp health status (healthy and unhealthy with AHPND). 16S rRNA gene analysis of metagenomic and culturable bacterial numbers were found to be different between healthy and unhealthy samples in two different collection times that shows, the bacterial community diversity may potentially have contributed to the health shrimp status.

Results from this study indicated that most of bacterial genera found in healthy shrimps were typically present in the shrimps, while bacteria genera in unhealthy shrimps indicated different from the healthy one. The results revealed that there were significant different between healthy shrimp status and sampling times.  Based on the results, the bacterial communities of healthy shrimp comprised of members of the genera Pseudomonas (30% of the total reads), Photobacterium (23% of the total reads), Acinetobacter (15% of the total reads) and Vibrio (10% of the total reads), while the members of the genera Vibrio (40% of the total reads), Photobacterium (25% of the total reads), Pseudomonas (10% of the total reads) and Paracoccus (7% of the total reads), were greatly predominant in unhealthy shrimp of AHPND, with highly dynamic of their bacterial communities. Other important bacterial genera also found were Escherichia, Cyanobacteria, Pseudoalteromonas and Aliivibrio. The overall data demonstrated dynamic bacterial communities in healthy and unhealthy shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) and its diversity from shrimp farm in Malaysia, and proves that bacterial communities were distinct between healthy and unhealthy (APHND) shrimps collected from shrimp farm.