Population genetics as a tool to elucidate pathogen reservoirs: Lessons from Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of White-Nose disease in bats
Creators
- 1. University of Montpellier
- 2. University of Greifswald
Description
Emerging infectious diseases pose a major threat to human, animal, and plant health. The risk of species-extinctions increases when pathogens can survive in the absence of the host. Environmental reservoirs can facilitate this. However, identifying such reservoirs and modes of infection is often highly challenging. In this study, we investigated the presence and nature of an environmental reservoir for the ascomycete fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of White-Nose disease. Using 18 microsatellite markers, we determined the genotypic differentiation between 1,497 P. destructans isolates collected from nine closely situated underground sites where bats hibernate (i.e., hibernacula) in Northeastern Germany. This approach was unique in that it ensured that every isolate and resulting multi-locus genotype was not only present, but also viable and therefore theoretically capable of infecting a bat. The distinct distribution of multi-locus genotypes across hibernacula demonstrates that each hibernaculum has an essentially unique fungal population. This would be expected if bats become infected in their hibernaculum (i.e., the site they spend winter in to hibernate) rather than in other sites visited before they start hibernating. In one hibernaculum where both the walls and the hibernating bats were sampled at regular intervals over five consecutive winter seasons (1,062 isolates), higher genotypic richness was found on walls compared to bats and multi-locus genotypes showed a stable frequency over multiple winters. This clearly implicates hibernacula walls as the main environmental reservoir of the pathogen, from which bats become re-infected annually during hibernation.
Notes
Information for the file 'Data_Reservoir_v1.csv' containing all the data used in the manuscript.
culture: name of the culture
country: country where the sample was collected
province: province where the sample was collected
site: city where the sample was collected
date: date when the sample was collected
labNo: name to identify all cultures from the same sample (e.g. 'Gd00298': three cultures [Gd_00298-aa, Gd_00298-ab, Gd_00298-ac] with the 'Gd00298' identifier have been made from sample '20150302_B_ELD_21')
sample: sample (swab) name
species: bat species from which the sample was collected (if the sample was collected from a bat)
substrate: substrate from which the sample was collected, here 'bat' or 'wall'
mtype: mating type inferred from the 'Sla2_Long' and/or 'Sla2_Short' markers
sampling_event: combined information on year of sampling, season, and substrate (used in Table 3 for example)
winter: winter season (used in Figure 4 for example)
Pd1- Pd22: microsatellite allele ('NA': missing value)
Sla2_Long: mating-type marker (519: MAT1-1; 547: MAT1-2; 'NA': missing value)
Sla2_Short: mating-type marker (240: MAT1-1; 208: MAT1-2; 'NA': missing value)
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The file 'Rscript_V8.R' containins the R script used to analyse the data contained in the file 'Data_Reservoir_v1.csv'.
The script is annotated.
Funding provided by: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659
Award Number: PU 527/2-1
Funding provided by: Bat Conservation International
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100005466
Award Number:
Funding provided by: Institut Universitaire de France
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004795
Award Number:
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Additional details
Related works
- Is cited by
- 10.1101/2021.02.04.429503 (DOI)
- Is source of
- 10.5061/dryad.x0k6djhhx (DOI)