ALBERT

Description: Emerging infectious diseases are reducing biodiversity on a global scale. Recently, the emergence of the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans resulted in rapid declines in populations of European fire salamanders. Here, we screened more than 5000 amphibians from across four continents and combined experimental assessment of pathogenicity with phylogenetic methods to estimate the threat that this infection poses to amphibian diversity. Results show that B. salamandrivorans is restricted to, but highly pathogenic for, salamanders and newts (Urodela). The pathogen likely originated and remained in coexistence with a clade of salamander hosts for millions of years in Asia. As a result of globalization and lack of biosecurity, it has recently been introduced into naive European amphibian populations, where it is currently causing biodiversity loss.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Martel, A -- Blooi, M -- Adriaensen, C -- Van Rooij, P -- Beukema, W -- Fisher, M C -- Farrer, R A -- Schmidt, B R -- Tobler, U -- Goka, K -- Lips, K R -- Muletz, C -- Zamudio, K R -- Bosch, J -- Lotters, S -- Wombwell, E -- Garner, T W J -- Cunningham, A A -- Spitzen-van der Sluijs, A -- Salvidio, S -- Ducatelle, R -- Nishikawa, K -- Nguyen, T T -- Kolby, J E -- Van Bocxlaer, I -- Bossuyt, F -- Pasmans, F -- Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Oct 31;346(6209):630-1. doi: 10.1126/science.1258268.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium. an.martel@ugent.be. ; Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium. Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, Koningin Astridplein 26, Antwerp, Belgium. ; Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium. ; CIBIO/InBIO, Centro de Investigacao em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos da Universidade do Porto, Instituto de Ciencias Agrarias de Vairao, Rua Padre Armando Quintas, Vairao, Portugal. ; Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, Norfolk Place, London W2 1PG, UK. ; Genome Sequencing and Analysis Program, The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA. ; Koordinationsstelle fur amphibien- und reptilienschutz in der Schweiz (KARCH), Passage Maximilien-de-Meuron 6, 2000 Neuchatel, Switzerland. Institut fur Evolutionsbiologie und Umweltwissenschaften, Universitat Zurich. Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. ; Invasive Alien Species Research Team, National Institute for Environment Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan. ; Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA. ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. ; Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones cientificas (CSIC), Jose Gutierrez Abascal 2, 28006 Madrid, Spain. ; Biogeography Department, Trier University, 54286 Trier, Germany. ; Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Kent CT2 7NR, UK. Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London NW1 4RY, UK. ; Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London NW1 4RY, UK. ; Reptile, Amphibian and Fish Conservation the Netherlands (RAVON), Post Office Box 1413, 6501 BK Nijmegen, Netherlands. ; Department of Earth Science, Environmental and Life (Di.S.T.A.V.), University of Genova, Corso Europa 26, I-16132 Genova, Italy. ; Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Yoshida Nihonmatsu-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan. ; Vietnam National Museum of Nature, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam. ; James Cook University, One Health Research Group, School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitation Sciences, Townsville, Queensland, Australia. ; Amphibian Evolution Lab, Biology Department, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25359973" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉