Moving Beyond the Host: Unraveling the Skin Microbiome of Endangered Costa Rican Amphibians.

ABSTRACT: Some neotropical amphibians, including a few species in Costa Rica, were presumed to be "extinct" after dramatic population declines in the late 1980s but have been rediscovered in isolated populations. Such populations seem to have evolved a resistance/tolerance to Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), a fungal pathogen that causes a deadly skin disease and is considered one of the main drivers of worldwide amphibian declines. The skin microbiome is an important component of the host's innate immune system and is associated with Bd-resistance. However, the way that the bacterial diversity of the skin microbiome confers protection against Bd in surviving species remains unclear. We studied variation in the skin microbiome and the prevalence of putatively anti-

SUBMITTER: Jimenez RR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6751270 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature