Abstract: The gut of turbot contained a diverse population of bacteria which contributed to food digestion and nutrient absorption. The high substitution rate of soybean meal to fish meal would damage the health of the fish. In the present study， the contents of intestine were diluted and cultured in three plate culture media. The result showed that there were a number of bacteria in every part of the intestine， the number of cultural aerobic bacteria was higher than that of the anaerobic bacteria in the gut of turbot， and the population of upper intestine was higher. The DGGEprofiles showed that the structure of turbots intestine was influenced by protein sources， and the main bacterial strain was similar when incubated in fishmeal or fermented soybean meal culture under anaerobic condition. Based on the results of the PCRDGGEprofiles， the relationship of the bacteria species was greatly influenced by different protein sources under aerobic conditions， and proteobacteria was the dominant bacteria in the turbot gut which could utilize the protein.

Key words: turbot, protein sources, intestinal microbiota, in vitro culture