RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Development and worldwide use of a non-lethal and minimal population-level impact protocols for the isolation of chytrids from amphibians
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 246538
DO 10.1101/246538
A1 Matthew C. Fisher
A1 Pria Ghosh
A1 Jennifer M. G. Shelton
A1 Kieran Bates
A1 Lola Brookes
A1 Claudia Wierzbicki
A1 Gonçalo M. Rosa
A1 Rhys A. Farrer
A1 David M. Aanensen
A1 Mario Alvarado-Rybak
A1 Arnaud Bataille
A1 Lee Berger
A1 Susanne Böll
A1 Jaime Bosch
A1 France C. Clare
A1 Elodie Courtois
A1 Angelica Crottini
A1 Andrew A. Cunningham
A1 Thomas M. Doherty-Bone
A1 Fikirte Gebresenbet
A1 David J. Gower
A1 Jacob Höglund
A1 Timothy Y. James
A1 Thomas S. Jenkinson
A1 Tiffany A. Kosch
A1 Carolina Lambertini
A1 Anssi Laurila
A1 Chun-Fu Lin
A1 Adeline Loyau
A1 An Martel
A1 Sara Meurling
A1 Claude Miaud
A1 Pete Minting
A1 Serge Ndriantsoa
A1 Frank Pasmans
A1 Tsanta Rakotonanahary
A1 Falitiana C. E. Rabemananjara
A1 Luisa P. Ribeiro
A1 Dirk S. Schmeller
A1 Benedikt R. Schmidt
A1 Lee Skerratt
A1 Freya Smith
A1 Claudio Soto-Azat
A1 Giulia Tessa
A1 Luís Felipe Toledo
A1 Andrés Valenzuela-Sánchez
A1 Ruhan Verster
A1 Judit Vörös
A1 Bruce Waldman
A1 Rebecca J. Webb
A1 Che Weldon
A1 Emma Wombwell
A1 Kelly R. Zamudio
A1 Joyce E. Longcore
A1 Trenton W.J. Garner
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/01/14/246538.abstract
AB Parasitic chytrid fungi have emerged as a significant threat to amphibian species worldwide, necessitating the development of techniques to isolate these pathogens into sterile 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 interested researchers worldwide 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 their inception, we find that these methods have been widely applied across at least 5 continents, 23 countries and in 62 amphibian species, and have been successfully used to isolate chytrids in remote field locations. Isolation of chytrids by the non-lethal RML protocol occured in 18% of attempts with 207 fungal isolates and three species of chytrid being recovered. Isolation of chytrids from tadpoles occured in 43% of attempts with 334 fungal isolates of one species (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) being recovered. Together, these methods have resulted in a significant reduction and refinement of our use of threatened amphibian species and have improved our ability to work with this important group of emerging fungal pathogens.