

The AHPND-causing Vibrio species were predicted to develop a co-occurrence pattern with several resident and transit members within Candidatus Bacilloplasma and Cyanobacteria. AHPND markedly changed the bacterial diversity in the stomachs it decreased the Shannon index by 53.6% within approximately 7 days, shifted the microbiome with Vibrio and Candidatus Bacilloplasma as predominant populations, and altered the species-to-species connectivity and complexity of the interaction network. Despite copies of PirAB vp, principal co-ordinates analysis revealed two distinctive stages of change in stomach microbiomes associated with AHPND. The microbiomes of pond seawater and shrimp stomachs underwent varied dynamic succession during the period. We took 62 samples from a grow-out pond during an AHPND developing period from Days 23 to 37 after stocking white postlarvae shrimp and sequenced the 16S rRNA genes with Illumina sequencing technology. Although AHPND is known to be caused by pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus hosting the plasmid-related PirAB vp toxin gene, the effects of disturbances in microbiome have not yet been studied. Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) (formerly, early mortality syndrome) is a high-mortality-rate shrimp disease prevalent in shrimp farming areas.
