ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbial Symbioses
This article is part of the Research TopicHarnessing Aquatic Microbial Symbioses for Sustainable Aquaculture: Unveiling Biodiversity and Ecosystem DynamicsView all articles
Impact of bacterial predation on the bacterial community structure of Mediterranean mussels during depuration
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy
- 2Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy
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The Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis) is the most valuable shellfish farmed and consumed in the Western Mediterranean. Like any other filter-feeding organism, mussels are exposed to a wide range of microorganisms. Before consumption, bivalves are subject to depuration to purge the gastrointestinal content, thus minimizing the risk of pathogens' circulation. Over time, this strategy revealed several shortcomings, most notably concerning Vibrio spp. In this study, the potential use of autochthonous predatory bacteria as a biocontrol strategy to mitigate Vibrio spp. overgrowth in mussels during depuration was evaluated. Moreover, a polyphasic approach based on conventional and culture-independent strategies was used to assess the impact of predation and of depuration on the mussel microbiome during controlled depuration studies. The depuration greatly impacted the bivalve microbiota, jeopardizing its innate resilience. Moreover, the addition of a bacterial predator strain to mussels resulted in the disturbance of the microbiome. Therefore, even though the biotechnological application of bacterial predation in this context may appear promising when monitored by culture-dependent methods, the effect on the mollusks' microbiome does not seem to be easily predictable, above all when mussels are subject to depuration after the harvest.
Keywords: mytilus galloprovincialis, Bacterial predation, depuration, Vibrio mediterranei, HTS
Received: 17 Jun 2025; Accepted: 30 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Aponte, Blaiotta, Ciliberti and Romano. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Maria Aponte, aponte@unina.it
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