Last summer our lab struggled with inconsistent results from our strain of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd)… and… Perhaps I’d better back up a bit.
Amphibian populations have been declining globally, faster than any other vertebrate taxa on the planet. One of the agents believed to be responsible is the fungal pathogen Bd. This pathogen alone doesn’t explain the magnitude of the population declines observed, but it is likely an important part of the story.
To that end, our lab examines Bd in combination with other factors in search of an effect that could explain what we’re observing in nature.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way; last summer we struggled with inconsistent results from our lab strains of Bd. In planning the work for this spring and summer, we decided to run a preliminary trial of our Bd strain.
I ran a very small trial using western toads, a species highly susceptible to Bd, and after one week I have my answer. Our lab strain has become avirulent after ~9 generations in the lab. Had we not caught this before the our experimental season, we’d have experienced wonky experimental results lab wide.
Time to buy a fresh Bd isolate…
Paul’s Pond looks great and hooray for pilot experiments. They have saved me several times. I also thought the avirulence in 9 generations was pretty interesting too though … Might make for a cool experimental evolution study one day if you are ever looking for genes involved in virulence!
Thanks!
Now that you mention it, it might be prudent to hold on to our current strains for such an analysis. I’m wondering if something about growing multiple generations in the lab without access to any hosts has a selective effect, or if it’s just freed from selection…