Bacterial Biofilm Thickness and Fungal Inhibitory Bacterial Richness Both Prevent Establishment of the Amphibian Fungal Pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

ABSTRACT: Host-associated microbial biofilms can provide protection against pathogen establishment. In many host-microbe symbioses (including, but not limited to humans, plants, insects, and amphibians), there is a correlation between host-associated microbial diversity and pathogen infection risk. Diversity may prevent infection by pathogens through sampling effects and niche complementarity, but an alternative hypothesis may be that microbial biomass is confounded with diversity and that host-associated biofilms are deterring pathogen establishment through space preemption. In this study, we use the amphibian system as a model for host-microbe-pathogen interactions to ask two questions: (i) is bacterial richness confounded with biofilm thickness or cell density, and (ii) to what extent do biofilm

SUBMITTER: Chen MY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8904042 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature