Dynamics of Bacterial and Vibrio Communities in Blacklip Rock Oysters in the Seasonal Tropics

Z. Tinning; M. Kaestli; S. J. Nowland; N. Siboni; J. R. Seymour; K. S. Gibb; A. C. Padovan

doi:10.1007/s00248-025-02599-w

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Dynamics of Bacterial and Vibrio Communities in Blacklip Rock Oysters in the Seasonal Tropics

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Dynamics of Bacterial and Vibrio Communities in Blacklip Rock Oysters in the Seasonal Tropics

Z. Tinning, M. Kaestli, S. J. Nowland, N. Siboni, J. R. Seymour, K. S. Gibb and A. C. Padovan

Microbial Ecology, Vol.88, pp.1-14

2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-025-02599-w

PMCID: PMC12628417

PMID: 41249638

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Abstract

Saccostrea spathulata

Tropical oyster

Host-microbiome

Vibrio

Seasonal tropics

Cultivation of the tropical Blacklip Rock Oyster (BRO) (Saccostrea spathulata) is an emerging Indigenous-led aquaculture industry in the seasonal tropics of northern Australia. However, little is currently known about the potential for pathogen outbreaks in this species. We conducted a year-long study to establish a microbial baseline to identify potential oyster and human health risks to inform future food safety decision making in this nascent industry. In healthy oysters, we identified both the core microbiome of this oyster species and the presence of potential oyster and human pathogens. The core bacteriome comprised nine bacterial families, while the core vibriome comprised the animal pathogens Vibrio harveyi and V. owensii. The potential human pathogen V. parahaemolyticus was detected in some oysters during the wet season, during periods of increased rainfall, turbidity and total nitrogen. The bacteriome and vibriome of oysters were significantly different to the adjacent seawater and therefore we concluded that seawater is not an appropriate surrogate for pathogen risk surveillance in this developing industry. These results provide new knowledge on the microbiology of a previously understudied oyster species and will inform monitoring methods, harvesting and shellfish quality compliance in this emerging Indigenous-led industry.

Details

Title: Dynamics of Bacterial and Vibrio Communities in Blacklip Rock Oysters in the Seasonal Tropics
Authors: Z. Tinning (Corresponding Author) - Charles Darwin University
M. Kaestli (Author) - Charles Darwin University
S. J. Nowland (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research
N. Siboni (Author) - University of Technology Sydney
J. R. Seymour - Charles Darwin University
K. S. Gibb (Author) - Charles Darwin University
A. C. Padovan (Author) - Charles Darwin University
Publication details: Microbial Ecology, Vol.88, pp.1-14
Publisher: Springer New York LLC
Date published: 2025
DOI: 10.1007/s00248-025-02599-w
ISSN: 1432-184X
PMID: 41249638; PMC12628417
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Data Availability: Raw sequence files are accessible through NCBI Sequence Read Archive (PRJNA1264689).
Grants: Defining the links between climate change, marine disease and food security, DP240100370, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Grant note: This project was funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA) which is part of the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centre Program (CRCP), the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) on behalf of the Australian Government (project number 2020–043).
Organisation Unit: School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991186142302621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Ecology; Marine & Freshwater Biology; Microbiology

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