Interacting Symbionts and Immunity in the Amphibian Skin Mucosome Predict Disease Risk and Probiotic Effectiveness

A new paper by Doug Woodhams and collaborators shows that the amphibian skin mucosome predicts the risk of Bd infection and the effectiveness of probiotic therapy. The authors used data from www.bd-maps.eu. The paper was published in PLoS ONE (http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi/10.1371/journal.pone.0096375).

Frog-Killing Fungus Meets Its Match in Hidden World of Tiny Predators | The Artful Amoeba, Scientific American Blog Network

Dirk Schmeller, Adeline Loyau, Frank Pasmans, Mark Blooi, and their colleagues have discovered that, at least in the alpine lakes of the Pyrenees between France and Spain, tiny predatory microbes can put the disease-causing fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd, soundly in its place. They do this because the fungus has relatives in the lake that look and act similarly, and these fungi make up a natural part of these microbes’ diets. These native microscopic fungi dine on detritus, not frogs. But to micropredatores, the spores of Bd look just like their regular breakfasts, and are evidently just as tasty.

Frog-Killing Fungus Meets Its Match in Hidden World of Tiny Predators | The Artful Amoeba, Scientific American Blog Network

Fungus-Chomping Micro Predators Could Protect Amphibians from Decimating Skin Disease - Scientific American

Fungus-Chomping Micro Predators Could Protect Amphibians from Decimating Skin Disease - Scientific American
In 2012 a team of temperamental donkeys picked their way down the French Pyrenees carrying a payload of voracious protists. Donkeys wouldn't ordinarily be required to ferry single-celled microbes, but these tiny organisms happened to be inhabitants of the several hundred pounds of lake water that the donkeys were also carrying, whether they liked it or not. “It's kind of funny,” says Dirk Schmeller, the scientist whose team hired the donkeys, “because it shows donkeys can help save amphibians.”

BBC News - Salamander threatened by skin-eating fungus

BBC News - Salamander threatened by skin-eating fungus

A deadly skin-eating fungus is threatening the fire salamander population in the Netherlands.

It has driven the creature to the brink of extinction in the
region though it's still unknown whether other countries have seen
similar declines.


Recognisable by its vibrant yellow and black skin, fire
salamanders dropped to a population low of 10 animals before a treatment
programme began.


The findings, in PNAS journal, explain what caused their decline.


Once researchers observed the near catastrophic decline, the animals were taken into captivity.


A treatment programme was developed and youngsters have now
been born. The team plans to reintroduce them into the wild once numbers
are back to a sufficient level.


A team of international scientists was able to isolate the fungus after analysing dead salamanders. Its Latin name, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, means "salamander-eating".

Continue reading the main story

"We need to act urgently to determine what populations are in danger and how best to protect them”

Matthew Fisher
Imperial College London

A related fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) has already threatened over 200 species of amphibians.

Frog's little helpers

Amphibians across the globe are facing calamitous declines. Around a third of species are critically threatened, while extinction rates for amphibians are 200 times higher than for other vertebrates. Several factors underlie these changes: widespread habitat loss, climate change and toxic chemicals in environmental run-off, among others. However, the most prominent cause of epidemic mortality is the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, known more simply as Bd. Where it is common, Bd decimates populations. Puzzlingly, however, while Bd infection rates in some ponds are extremely high, other ponds are hardly affected. New research published in Current Biology offers a compelling explanation for this variation. Simultaneously, the results offer a novel route to mitigate Bd-induced amphibian loss. 

The conclusion is very nice!



Frog's little helpers

Amphibian diseases flow through animal trade

A new study shows how the trade contributes to the spread of amphibian diseases: https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/wild-things/amphibian-diseases-flow-through-animal-trade

Environmental Determinants of Recent Endemism of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Infections in Amphibian Assemblages in the Absence of Disease Outbreaks

A paper to be published in Conservation Biology written by Annemarieke Spitzen-van der Sluijs and collaborators describe the Bd in the Netherlands. There, Bd is apparently endemic without causing much harm to amphibians. The abstract ist available here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12281/abstract