More than skin deep: functional genomic basis for resistance to amphibian chytridiomycosis.

ABSTRACT: The amphibian-killing chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) is one of the most generalist pathogens known, capable of infecting hundreds of species globally and causing widespread population declines and extinctions. However, some host species are seemingly unaffected by Bd, tolerating or clearing infections without clinical signs of disease. Variation in host immune responses is commonly evoked for these resistant or tolerant species, yet to date, we have no direct comparison of amphibian species responses to infection at the level of gene expression. In this study, we challenged four Central American frog species that vary in Bd susceptibility, with a sympatric virulent strain of the pathogen. We compared skin and spleen orthologous gene expression using differential express

SUBMITTER: Ellison AR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4316636 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature