Expression profiling the temperature-dependent amphibian response to infection by Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

ABSTRACT: Amphibians are experiencing a panzootic of unprecedented proportions caused by the emergence of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). However, all species are not equally at risk of infection, and risk is further modified by environmental variables, specifically temperature. In order to understand how, and when, hosts mount a response to Bd we analysed infection dynamics and patterns of gene expression in the model amphibian species Silurana (Xenopus) tropicalis. Mathematical modelling of infection dynamics demonstrate the existence of a temperature-dependent protective response that is largely independent of the intrinsic growth-rate of Bd. Using temporal expression-profiling by microarrays and qRT-PCR, we characterise this response in the main amphibian lymphoid tissue, the spleen. We dem

SUBMITTER: Ribas L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2794374 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature