Amphibian skin defences show variation in ability to inhibit growth of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis isolates from the Global Panzootic Lineage

Antwis, RE; Weldon, C

Abstract

The fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis has caused declines and extinctions in hundreds of amphibian species across the world. Virulence varies among and within lineages; the Global Panzootic Lineage (GPL) is the most pathogenic, although there is also variation in lethality between GPL isolates. Amphibians have a number of defences against pathogens, and skin products including the microbiota and host peptides have been shown to have considerable influence over disease progression. Here we show the collective skin products (the mucosome) of two amphibian species show significant variation in their ability to inhibit different globally- distributed isolates of GPL. This may in part explain the variation in disease susceptibility of hosts to different strains of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. More work is required to identify particular traits associated with mucosomes that confer broad- spectrum inhibition across GPL in order to facilitate the development of prophylaxis and/or treatments for chytridiomycosis in situ.

Citation

Antwis, R., & Weldon, C. (2017). Amphibian skin defences show variation in ability to inhibit growth of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis isolates from the Global Panzootic Lineage. Microbiology, 163(12), 1835-1838. https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000570

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 25, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Nov 2, 2017
• Publication Date: Nov 2, 2017
• Deposit Date: Oct 26, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 2, 2018
• Journal: Microbiology
• Print ISSN: 1350-0872
• Electronic ISSN: 1465-2080
• Publisher: Microbiology Society
• Volume: 163
• Issue: 12
• Pages: 1835-1838
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000570
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000570
• Related Public URLs: http://mic.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/
• Additional Information: Funders : North-West University Postdoctoral Research Fellowship