Moss Angela S, Reddy Nikla S, Dortaj Ida M, San Francisco Michael J
Department of Biological Sciences, Box 43131, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409-3131, USA.
Mycologia. 2008 Jan-Feb;100(1):1-5. doi: 10.3852/mycologia.100.1.1.
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is a fungal pathogen of amphibians that is increasingly implicated as a major cause of large-scale mortalities of amphibian species worldwide. Previous studies indicate that motile zoospores of B. dendrobatidis colonize the keratinized tissues of susceptible amphibians. Infections spread to adults and cause destruction of epidermal tissue. In an effort to understand how the chytrid cues into its host we developed an assay to study chemotaxis in the fungus. Here we show that zoospores exhibit positive movement toward a variety of attractants including sugars, proteins and amino acids. These observations suggest that the chytrid can respond to nutritional cues, including those of host origin. Implications of these observations to amphibian susceptibility to infection and chytrid virulence are discussed.
蛙壶菌是两栖动物的一种真菌病原体，越来越多地被认为是全球两栖动物物种大规模死亡的主要原因。先前的研究表明，蛙壶菌的游动孢子会定殖在易感两栖动物的角质化组织上。感染会传播到成体并导致表皮组织的破坏。为了了解这种壶菌如何识别其宿主，我们开发了一种试验来研究该真菌的趋化性。在此我们表明，游动孢子对包括糖类、蛋白质和氨基酸在内的多种引诱剂表现出正向运动。这些观察结果表明，这种壶菌能够对营养线索做出反应，包括那些源自宿主的线索。本文讨论了这些观察结果对两栖动物感染易感性和壶菌毒力的影响。
