Gut microbes play a critical role in helping hosts adapt to external environmental changes and are becoming an important phenotype for evaluating the response of aquatic animals to environmental stresses. However, few studies have reported the role that gut microbes play after the exposure of gastropods to bloom-forming cyanobacteria and toxins. In this study, we investigated the response pattern and potential role of intestinal flora in freshwater gastropod Bellamya aeruginosa when exposed to toxic and non-toxic strains of Microcystis aeruginosa, respectively. Results showed that the composition of the intestinal flora of the toxin-producing cyanobacteria group (T group) changed significantly over time. The concentration of microcystins (MCs) in hepatopancreas tissue decreased from 2.41 ± 0.12 on day 7 to 1.43 ± 0.10 μg·g-1 dry weight on day 14 in the T group. The abundance of cellulase-producing bacteria (Acinetobacter) was significantly higher in the non-toxic cyanobacteria group (NT group) than that in the T group on day 14, whereas the relative abundance of MC-degrading bacteria (Pseudomonas and Ralstonia) was significantly higher in the T group than that in the NT group on day 14. In addition, the co-occurrence networks in the T group were more complex than that in the NT group at day 7 and day 14. Some genera identified as key nodes, such as Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Ralstonia, showed different patterns of variation in the co-occurrence network. Network nodes clustered to Acinetobacter increased in the NT group from day 7 to day 14, whereas the interactions between Pseudomonas and Ralstonia and other bacteria almost changed from positive correlations in the D7T group to negative correlations in the D14T group. These results suggested that these bacteria not only have the ability to improve host resistance to toxic cyanobacterial stress by themselves, but they can also further assist host adaptation to environmental stress by regulating the interaction patterns within the community. This study provides useful information for understanding the role of freshwater gastropod gut flora in response to toxic cyanobacteria and reveals the underlying tolerance mechanisms of B. aeruginosa to toxic cyanobacteria.
Keywords: Bellamya aeruginosa; Microcystis aeruginosa; co-occurrence networks; gut microbiota; microcystins.