| DB ID | MyCo_5658 |
| Title | Does physiological response to disease incur cost to reproductive ecology in a sexually dichromatic amphibian species? |
| Year | 2016 |
| PMID | 27712921 |
| Fungal Diseases involved | Chytridiomycosis |
| Associated Medical Condition | None |
| Genus | Batrachochytrium |
| Species | dendrobatidis |
| Organism | Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis |
| Ethical Statement | This study was carried out under permitWISP13675913 issued by the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection (DEHP) and the Griffith University Animal Ethics Committee (AEC) approved the experiments (permit # ENV/20/12/AEC). |
| Site of Infection | None |
| Opportunistic invasive | None |
| Sample type | Body fluid |
| Sample source | Urine |
| Host Group | Animal |
| Host Common name | Adult Male Frog |
| Host Scientific name | Litoria wilcoxii |
| Biomarker Name | Testosterone |
| Biomarker Full Name | Testosterone |
| Biomarker Type | Diagnostic |
| Biomolecule | Hormone |
| Geographical Location | Australia |
| Cohort | A population of L. wilcoxii located along a creek section in Numinbah Valley, South East Queensland (28.219°S, 153.232°E, 196 m altitude) was sampled at monthly intervals (n = 30 per month, except March n=20,May n=13 and June=9), from September 2013 until August 2014. No sampleswere collected during July as frogs could not be located due to cooler temperatures (monthly average minimum 10.7 °C). It should be noted that these samples are different from those previously published in. Field sampling started at dusk (approx. 1830 h) and continued until all visible frogs had been sampled (approx. 2330 h). We captured male frogs by hand using 25 × 25 cm freezer bags and urine samples were immediately (within 1 min) taken on capture. Urine was collected using an Eppendorf pipette inserted into the frog's cloaca (1–2mm) to collect urine via capillary action, afterwhich frogswere placed into a 30cm3 box and photographed. A new freezer bag was used for each frog to prevent cross contamination. Following this all frogs were swabbed for Bd as per established methods. Briefly, a fine tipped cotton swab (MW100–100; Medical Wire & Equipment, Wiltshire, England) was swiped 5 times over: the ventral surface, each side of the ventral surface, each thigh (underside) and each foot (Bd swabbing took on average 1 min per frog). All frogs were toe-clipped (assigned unique toe-clip codes for identification), using the numeric system described in so individuals could be tracked over time. Amphibians have been shown to physiologically recover from a short-term stress response to toe-clipping at around 72 h. No negative side effects were observed following toe-clipping and clipped toes on individuals were fully healed when recaptured (pers. obs.). Samples (frog urine and Bd swabs)were kept on ice packs in the field for a period of 5 h and transported back to the laboratorywhere theywere stored in a−80 °C freezer until hormone assays and PCR molecular analysis of Bd swabs were completed. |
| Cohort No. | 184 |
| Age Group | None |
| P Value | p=0.0117 |
| Sensitivity | None |
| Specificity | None |
| Positive Predictive Value | None |
| MIC | None |
| Fold Change | None |
| Pathway | None |
| Disease Introduction Mechanism | Chytridiomycosis is a disease caused by the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytriumdendrobatidis (Bd) that has led to declines and extinctions of native amphibian populations across the globe. In spite of these mass declines, some amphibian species are seemingly able to persist, despite being highly susceptible to infection. This leads to the question of the sub-lethal effects of Bd and what impacts it may have on a species, in particular what effects it may have on reproduction. It has been recently established that stress hormone levels increase (physiological stress response) in Bd infected amphibians (adults and tadpoles), with similar responses observed in highly susceptible non-declining species and susceptible declining species. |
| Technique | PCR |
| Analysis Method | qRT-PCR |
| ELISA kits | None |
| Assay Data | None |
| Validation Techniques used | ELISA, qRT-PCR |
| Up Regulation Down Regulation | Down regulated |
| Sequence Data | None |
| External Link | None |
