Development and worldwide use of non-lethal, and minimal population-level impact, protocols for the isolation of amphibian chytrid fungi

MC Fisher; P Ghosh; JMG Shelton; K Bates; L Brookes; C Wierzbicki; GM Rosa; RA Farrer; DM Aanensen; M Alvarado-Rybak; A Bataille; L Berger; S Böll; J Bosch; FC Clare; EA Courtois; A Crottini; AA Cunningham; TM Doherty-Bone; F Gebresenbet; DJ Gower; J Höglund; TY James; TS Jenkinson; TA Kosch; C Lambertini; A Laurila; CF Lin; A Loyau; A Martel; S Meurling; C Miaud; P Minting; S Ndriantsoa; SJ O'Hanlon; F Pasmans; T Rakotonanahary; FCE Rabemananjara; LP Ribeiro; DS Schmeller; BR Schmidt; L Skerratt; F Smith; C Soto-Azat; G Tessa; LF Toledo; A Valenzuela-Sánchez; R Verster; J Vörös; B Waldman; RJ Webb; C Weldon; E Wombwell; KR Zamudio; JE Longcore; TWJ Garner

Journal article

Development and worldwide use of non-lethal, and minimal population-level impact, protocols for the isolation of amphibian chytrid fungi

MC Fisher, P Ghosh, JMG Shelton, K Bates, L Brookes, C Wierzbicki, GM Rosa, RA Farrer, DM Aanensen, M Alvarado-Rybak, A Bataille, L Berger, S Böll, J Bosch, FC Clare, EA Courtois, A Crottini, AA Cunningham, TM Doherty-Bone, F Gebresenbet Show all

Scientific Reports | Published : 2018

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-24472-2

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Abstract

Parasitic chytrid fungi have emerged as a significant threat to amphibian species worldwide, necessitating the development of techniques to isolate these pathogens into culture for research purposes. However, early methods of isolating chytrids from their hosts relied on killing amphibians. We modified a pre-existing protocol for isolating chytrids from infected animals to use toe clips and biopsies from toe webbing rather than euthanizing hosts, and distributed the protocol to researchers as part of the BiodivERsA project RACE; here called the RML protocol. In tandem, we developed a lethal procedure for isolating chytrids from tadpole mouthparts. Reviewing a database of use a decade after t..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Grants

Awarded by Morris Animal Foundation

Funding Acknowledgements

T.W.J.G., M.C.F., D.S.S., A.L., E.C., F.C.C., J.B., A.A.C., C.M., F.S., B.R.S., S.O., were supported through the Biodiversa project RACE: Risk Assessment of Chytridiomycosis to European Amphibian Biodiversity (NERC standard grant NE/K014455/1 and NE/E006701/1; ANR-08-BDVA-002-03). M.C.F., J.S., C.W., P.G. were supported by the Leverhulme Trust (RPG-2014-273), M.C.F., A.C., C.W. were supported by the Morris Animal Foundation. J.V. was supported by the Bolyai Janos Research Grant of the Hunagrian Academy of Sciences (BO/00597/14). F.G. and D.G. were supported by the Conservation Leadership Programme Future Conservationist Award. C.S.A. was supported by Fondecyt (No. 1181758). M.C.F. and A.C. were supported by Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund Project (152510704). GMR held a doctoral scholarship (SFRH/BD/69194/2010) from Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia. L.F.T., C.L., L.P.R. K.R.Z., T.Y.J., T.S.J. were supported by Sao Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP #2016/25358-3), the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq #300896/2016-6) and a Catalyzing New International Collaborations grant from the United States NSF (OISE-1159513). C.S.A. was supported by Fondecyt (No. 1181758). T.M.D. was supported by the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. B.W. was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (2015R1D1A1A01057282).