Environmental fluctuations and host skin bacteria shift survival advantage between frogs and their fungal pathogen.

ABSTRACT: Fluctuating environments can modulate host-pathogen interactions by providing a temporary advantage to one of the interacting organisms. However, we know very little about how environmental conditions facilitate beneficial interactions between hosts and their microbial communities, resulting in individual persistence with a particular pathogen. Here, we experimentally infected Eleutherodactylus coqui frogs with the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) under environmental conditions known to confer the survival advantage to the host during the warm-wet season, or alternatively to the pathogen during the cool-dry season. We used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to quantify changes in bacterial richness and phylogenetic diversity, and identified operational taxonomic units (OTUs) t

SUBMITTER: Longo AV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5270579 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature