Protective effects of indigenous lactic acid bacteria in Artemia salina challenged with Vibrio parahaemolyticus: an in vitro and in silico approach

ABSTRACTAquaculture is one of the fastest-growing sectors of the food industry and vibriosis is a major disease affecting finfish and shellfish production capabilities. In recent years, probiotics specifically lactic acid bacteria (LAB) have proven to be an environmentally friendly alternative to antibiotics to maintain aquatic animal health. In this study, five strains of indigenous LAB isolated from traditional and non-traditional sources were evaluated for their potency in the prevention of vibriosis in brine shrimp, Artemia salina as a model organism. The LAB were well tolerated at all doses, and no negative effects on the hatching ability of brine shrimps were observed when exposed to Lactiplantibacillus plantarum KCFe63 and Limosilactobacillus fermentum NCCu21. Furthermore, all the tested LAB were able to protect the brine shrimp from the pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus under co-exposure and pre-exposure conditions. Molecular docking analysis revealed a high binding affinity of common probiotic metabolites lactic, butyric and propionic acids to the PirAvp and PirBvp proteins of V. parahaemolyticus which can prevent toxin formation and thereby acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND). Overall results suggest that two strains, L. plantarum KCFe63 and L. fermentum NCCu21, are suitable candidates to reduce the incidence of vibriosis and AHPND during brine shrimp cultivation.KEYWORDS: Brine shrimpaquacultureantimicrobial resistancemolecular dockingprobioticstoxicity Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementAll data generated or analysed during this study are included in this article and its supplementary information file.Ethical approvalThe care and use of animals for scientific research governed by the guidelines of the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals, Ministry of Environment and Forests (Animal Welfare Division), Govt. of India were adopted in the study.Authors’ contributionThe idea of the project and the design of the work was conceived by Abigail Fernandes who carried out the literature search, experimentation, and analysis and wrote the manuscript. Avelyno D’Costa carried out the statistical analysis, helped in the original draft preparation and editing. Santosh Jathar provided resources and helped in analysis. Akhil Nair carried out the molecular docking analysis and helped with writing the original draft and editing. Anoop Kumar Yadav analysed the images and helped with writing the original draft. Dr Pamela Jha helped provide resources, in interpretation of data and editing the draft. Dr Vinothkannan helped in molecular docking, critical revision and editing the draft. Renitta Jobby supervised the work, provided resources, interpreted the findings, and edited the original draft and helped in critical revision. All authors provided feedback and helped shape the research, analysis and manuscript.