Effects of snake fungal disease (ophidiomycosis) on the skin microbiome across two major experimental scales.

ABSTRACT: Emerging infectious diseases are increasingly recognized as a significant threat to global biodiversity conservation. Elucidating the relationship between pathogens and the host microbiome could lead to novel approaches for mitigating disease impacts. Pathogens can alter the host microbiome by inducing dysbiosis, an ecological state characterized by a reduction in bacterial alpha diversity, an increase in pathobionts, or a shift in beta diversity. We used the snake fungal disease (SFD; ophidiomycosis), system to examine how an emerging pathogen may induce dysbiosis across two experimental scales. We used quantitative polymerase chain reaction, bacterial amplicon sequencing, and a deep learning neural network to characterize the skin microbiome of free-ranging snakes across a broad phylogen

SUBMITTER: Romer AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11959348 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature