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Zebrafish: an efficient vertebrate model for understanding role of gut microbiota
Summary
This review describes how zebrafish serve as an efficient vertebrate model for studying gut microbiota and host-microbe interactions. Researchers found that zebrafish share key similarities with humans in intestinal physiology, and their optical transparency and high fecundity make them uniquely suited for microbiome research. The study outlines methods for creating germ-free zebrafish and summarizes current understanding of gut microbiota functions in this model organism.
Gut microbiota plays a critical role in the maintenance of host health. As a low-cost and genetically tractable vertebrate model, zebrafish have been widely used for biological research. Zebrafish and humans share some similarities in intestinal physiology and function, and this allows zebrafish to be a surrogate model for investigating the crosstalk between the gut microbiota and host. Especially, zebrafish have features such as high fecundity, external fertilization, and early optical transparency. These enable the researchers to employ the fish to address questions not easily addressed in other animal models. In this review, we described the intestine structure of zebrafish. Also, we summarized the methods of generating a gnotobiotic zebrafish model, the factors affecting its intestinal flora, and the study progress of gut microbiota functions in zebrafish. Finally, we discussed the limitations and challenges of the zebrafish model for gut microbiota studies. In summary, this review established that zebrafish is an attractive research tool to understand mechanistic insights into host-microbe interaction.
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