Immune responses in hibernating little brown myotis (Myotis lucifugus) with white-nose syndrome.

ABSTRACT: White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a fungal disease responsible for decimating many bat populations in North America. Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), the psychrophilic fungus responsible for WNS, prospers in the winter habitat of many hibernating bat species. The immune response that Pd elicits in bats is not yet fully understood; antibodies are produced in response to infection by Pd, but they may not be protective and indeed may be harmful. To understand how bats respond to infection during hibernation, we studied the effect of Pd inoculation on the survival and gene expression of captive hibernating Myotis lucifugus with varying pre-hibernation antifungal antibody titres. We investigated gene expression through the transcription of selected cytokin

SUBMITTER: Lilley TM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5310603 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature