Tuesday May 17, 2022
The Fish Site —
As more and more research studies find that the gut microbiome has profound effect on its host – from adaptation, gene expression and regulation, immune system maturation, maintenance of the gut mucosal barrier and as protection from pathogens – the role of tapeworms living in the gut microbiome has become a critical point of interest. Previous research in the aquaculture industry has found indications that tapeworms play a central role in key areas of farm-level improvements, namely growth deficiencies, health and fish welfare.
This makes a new study carried out by postdoc Jaelle Brealey from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Professor Michael Martin (NTNU), alongside associate professor Morten Limborg and PhD student Jacob Agerbo Rasmussen from the Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics (CEH) and colleagues, compelling. The paper has recently been published in mBio and adds to a small but growing body of evidence for the importance of parasite microbiomes.