Amphibians acquire resistance to live and dead fungus overcoming fungal immunosuppression
Persistent URL
Author(s)
McMahon, Taegan A.
Sears, Brittany
Venesky, Matthew D.
Bessler, Scott
Brown, Jenise
Deutsch, Kaitlin
Halstead, Neal
Lentz, Garrett
Tenouri, Nadia
Young, Suzanne
Civitello, David J.
Ortega, Nicole
Fites, J. Scott
Reinert, Laura
Date Issued
July 9, 2014
Abstract
Emerging fungal pathogens pose a greater threat to biodiversity than any other parasitic group, causing declines of many taxa, including bats, corals, bees, snakes and amphibians. Currently, there is little evidence that wild animals can acquire resistance to these pathogens. Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is a pathogenic fungus implicated in the recent global decline of amphibians. Here we demonstrate that three species of amphibians can acquire behavioural or immunological resistance to B. dendrobatidis. Frogs learned to avoid the fungus after just one B. dendrobatidis exposure and temperature-induced clearance. In subsequent experiments in which B. dendrobatidis avoidance was prevented, the number of previous exposures was a negative predictor of B. dendrobatidis burden on frogs and B. dendrobatidis-induced mortality, and was a positive predictor of lymphocyte abundance and proliferation. These results suggest that amphibians can acquire immunity to B. dendrobatidis that overcomes pathogen-induced immunosuppression and increases their survival. Importantly, exposure to dead fungus induced a similar magnitude of acquired resistance as exposure to live fungus. Exposure of frogs to B. dendrobatidis antigens might offer a practical way to protect pathogen-naive amphibians and facilitate the reintroduction of amphibians to locations in the wild where B. dendrobatidis persists. Moreover, given the conserved nature of vertebrate immune responses to fungi and the fact that many animals are capable of learning to avoid natural enemies, these results offer hope that other wild animal taxa threatened by invasive fungi might be rescued by management approaches based on herd immunity.
Journal
Nature
Department
Biology
Citation
McMahon, Taegan A., et al. 2014. "Amphibians acquire resistance to live and dead fungus overcoming fungal immunosuppression.". Nature 511, no. 7508: 224-227.
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Version of Article
Postprint
DOI
10.1038/nature13491
ISSN
0028-0836
1476-4687
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