This month I am celebrating three years as a postdoctoral fellow in the Microbial Ecogenomics Group (Mizrahi Lab)! I am a fish physiologist by training, but I was always curious to explore the interactions of fish with its microbes and their contribution to their functioning. And why fish microbiome? Besides being fan myself of the underwater world and its creatures, there are several reasons why one should be interested in their microbiomes. Microbes in the vertebrate gut play important physiological roles, influencing metabolic processes such as the digestion and absorption of nutrients. One aspect would be the applicative importance, especially related to the fish species of agricultural interest, aiming to understand and potentially improve their feed efficiency. Therefore, improving feed efficiency and performance of fish will contribute to the increasing fish protein demand for human consumption. The other aspect would involve a great evolutionary point of view in exploring these communities. Fish are a very diverse and ancient vertebrate group with a big range of dietary variations and a big range of habitats. However, most studies of gut microbial communities have focused on mammals and far fewer have emphasized on fish, so our knowledge on this field is quite limited. Thus, it is a very challenging attempt to explore their microbiome, yet easier than other higher vertebrates due to its lower complexity because of lower richness and presence of mostly facultative bacteria. What I am aiming for in my postdoc combines both these aspects: understanding what forces shape the microbial communities across the fish gut and different fish species and identifying communities of importance for the host, while on the same time using agricultural species as models targeting to improve their performance. In my project, I collaborate with the group of Avner Cnaani at the Volcani center, which are focusing on fish physiology and genetics studies. My work involves several tasks, from isolation and cultivation of gut microbes to identify their interactions, to deep sequencing and bioinformatics analysis! Currently, several interesting works are being assembled aiming to contribute in understanding of the structure of the microbial communities within several fish hosts. Fingers crossed!
