Population Genetics of the Frog-killing Fungus Batrachochytrium Dendrobatidis

Overview

Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Specialty Science

Date 2007 Aug 19

PMID 17693553

Citations 54

Authors

Jess A T Morgan

Vance T Vredenburg

Lara J Rachowicz

Roland A Knapp

Mary J Stice

Tate Tunstall

Rob E Bingham

John M Parker

Joyce E Longcore

Craig Moritz

Cheryl J Briggs

John W Taylor

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Global amphibian decline by chytridiomycosis is a major environmental disaster that has been attributed to either recent fungal spread or environmental change that promotes disease. Here, we present a population genetic comparison of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis isolates from an intensively studied region of frog decline, the Sierra Nevada of California. In support of a novel pathogen, we find low diversity, no amphibian-host specificity, little correlation between fungal genotype and geography, local frog extirpation by a single fungal genotype, and evidence of human-assisted fungus migration. In support of endemism, at a local scale, we find some diverse, recombining populations. Therefore neither epidemic spread nor endemism alone explains this particular amphibian decline. Recombination raises the possibility of resistant sporangia and a mechanism for rapid spread as well as persistence that could greatly complicate global control of the pathogen.

Citing Articles

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