Responses of survival, antioxidant system and intestinal microbiota of native snail Bellamya purificata to the invasive snail Pomacea canaliculata

Abstract

Pomacea canaliculata is one of the most successful invader in worldwide, adversely affecting native ecosystem through direct predation or indirect competition, while the mechanism of indirect effects on native species remain poorly understood. To clarify the effects of P. canaliculata on the native near-niche species, Bellamya purificata, a widespread freshwater gastropod in China, was selected as the research subject. The changes of mortality, histology, antioxidant system as well as the intestinal flora diversity of B. purificata were explored in present study. The results showed that the median lethal dose of P. canaliculata culture solution for B. purificata was 23.76 ind/L and a concentration-dependent damage of both the gonad and hepatopancreas were observed, the gonadal villi were dissolved and the hepatopancreas cells were broken at 20 ind/L. Furthermore, different concentrations of P. canaliculata culture solution leading to the antioxidant damage on the enzyme or non-enzyme systems of B. purificata at various degrees. Additionally, a decrease in the diversity of the intestinal flora was observed, accompanied by an increase in the abundance of pathogenic bacteria such as Pseudomonas and Aeromonas after the exposure of the culture solution of P. canaliculata. Last, after being recovered in freshwater for 24 h, the antioxidant damage of B. purificata and the disturbance of intestinal flora diversity were still not recovered especially in the high concentration group. The indirect competitive mechanism of P. canaliculata culture solution on B. purificata were explored from the aspects of tissue, biochemical level and intestinal flora, which enriched the research of P. canaliculata invasion on native snails in China, and provided new insights for the study of the invasion strategy of P. canaliculata.

Keywords: Pomacea canaliculata; Antioxidant system; Histological damage; Intestinal microbiota; Invasion mechanism.

Fig. 1

The effects of P. canaliculata culture solution on the death rate of B. purificata after exposed for 72 h.

Fig. 2

Gonadal sections of B. purificata under different concentrations of P. canaliculata culture solution. (a) Control group, (b–e) 1 ind/L, 5 ind/L, 10 ind/L and 20 ind/L treatment group, respectively. PLT Placental tissues, EPC Epithelial cell, ADI Adipocytes, FEG Fertilized eggs, BKC Broken cell, PTD Placental tissues dissolution.

Fig. 3

Hepatopancreas sections of B. purificata under different concentrations of P. canaliculata culture solution. (a) Control group, (b–e) 1 ind/L, 5 ind/L, 10 ind/L and 20 ind/L treatment group, respectively. HEC Hepatopancreas cells, BKC Broken cell, CLE Cellular edema.

Fig. 4

Antioxidant enzyme activity and lipid peroxidation of B. purificata in treatment and recovery group. (a) MDA. (b) SOD. (c) CAT. (d) GSH. Different concentrations of treatment group and control group were analyzed by ANOVA. Different capital letters represent significant differences between the treatment groups (P < 0.05), and different lowercase letters represent significant differences between the recovery groups (P < 0.05). * Means the statistical differences P < 0.05 between the treatment group and recovery group, statistics by double-tailed paired samples Student ‘s t test.

Fig. 5

The composition of intestinal symbiotic bacteria of B. purificata under different treatments. (a) Phylum, (b) genus, N = 3.

Fig. 6

Predictive analysis of the function of the intestinal microbiota Tax4fun in B. purificata under different treatments.