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

Scientific Reports
M C FisherT W J Garner

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 their inception, we find that these methods have been applied across 5 continents, 23 countries and in 62 amphibian species. 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 spec...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 5, 2018·Diseases of Aquatic Organisms·Kimberly J CookJonah Piovia-Scott
Apr 12, 2020·Transboundary and Emerging Diseases·Patricia A BurrowesIgnacio De la Riva
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Sep 19, 2019·Scientific Reports·Luisa P RibeiroLuís Felipe Toledo
Jun 27, 2019·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Sasha E GreenspanC Guilherme Becker
Jul 4, 2020·Diseases of Aquatic Organisms·Kristyn A RobinsonLillian Fritz-Laylin
Nov 25, 2020·Molecular Ecology Resources·Pria N GhoshMatthew C Fisher
Jun 8, 2021·Journal of the Indian Institute of Science·Gayathri Sreedharan, Karthikeyan Vasudevan

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
dissection
biopsy
dissecting
PCR
genotyping

Software Mentioned

GeoEye
Epicollect5
Aerogrid
Epicollect
OpenStreetMap
Getmapping
RACE

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