Bacterial communities that live on the skin
of frogs and toads could provide vital clues to species' vulnerability to the
lethal chytrid fungus.
The fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis or (Bd)) is currently decimating amphibian populations worldwide,
and has been linked with the decline and extinction of tropical species.
According to a pioneering new genetic study,
led by Zoological Society of London and involving Imperial researchers, the
animals' own microbes could play a key role in the course of disease.
Previous studies indicate that the outcome of
infection is linked to the virulence of the particular Bd strain the animals
come into contact with, but more recent evidence suggests that bacteria living
naturally on amphibian skin can
actually provide protection from the fungus.
In the latest study, published in the
journal Nature Communications, researchers used more than a decade of data
collected from midwife toads (Alytes
obstetricans) in the French and Spanish Pyrenees to investigate why certain
populations of the toads demonstrated a degree of resistance to Bd, while
elsewhere the disease has contributed to catastrophic declines in similar
animals.
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