Journal article
Complex history of the amphibian-killing chytrid fungus revealed with genome resequencing data
EB Rosenblum, TY James, KR Zamudio, TJ Poorten, D Ilut, D Rodriguez, JM Eastman, K Richards-Hrdlicka, S Joneson, TS Jenkinson, JE Longcore, GP Olea, LF Toledo, ML Arellano, EM Medina, S Restrepo, SV Flechas, L Berger, CJ Briggs, JE Stajich
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | Published : 2013
Abstract
Understanding the evolutionary history of microbial pathogens is critical for mitigating the impacts of emerging infectious diseases on economically and ecologically important host species. We used a genome resequencing approach to resolve the evolutionary history of an important microbial pathogen, the chytrid Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), which has been implicated in amphibian declines worldwide. We sequenced the genomes of 29 isolates of Bd from around the world, with an emphasis on North, Central, and South America because of the devastating effect that Bd has had on amphibian populations in the New World. We found a substantial amount of evolutionary complexity in Bd with deep ph..
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Awarded by National Science Foundation
Funding Acknowledgements
We acknowledge Peter Murphy, Che Weldon, Victoria Vasquez, Cinthya Mendoza-Almeralla, and Lisa Schloegel for isolating Bd samples that were included in this study. We thank Ana V. Longo Berrios and David Vallejo for assistance with laboratory work, Scott Cashins for collection of tadpoles for Bd isolation, and Jamie Voyles and two anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. This project was funded by National Science Foundation Grants EF-0723871 and IOS-0825355 (to E.B.R.) and grants from the Cornell Center for Comparative Population Genetics (3CPG) and the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (ACSF; to K.R.Z.).