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Mating type determination within a microsatellite multiplex for the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of white-nose disease in bats

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Abstract

Emerging infectious diseases are a severe conservation threat for a variety of plants and animals. In North America, several bat species are threatened by white-nose disease, which has caused an unprecedented mass mortality of > 6 million bats since 2006. The fungus Pseudogymnoascus (Geomyces) destructans is the causative agent of the disease. Though asexual reproduction is the norm, sexual reproduction is possible as two mating types exist. Sexual reproduction has been implicated in the emergence of virulent strains of fungi but to date no rapid means of mating type characterisation was available for P. destructans. In this study, three mating type-specific primer sets were designed and tested on 80 isolates. The primers were multiplexed with microsatellite loci allowing for rapid and concurrent genotyping and mating type assignment. These markers will have great utility in better understanding and predicting the population dynamics and evolutionary potential of this fungus, including the emergence of virulent strains.

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Data availability

Mating type sequences can be found on GenBank (MH360259–MH360269).

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Acknowledgements

We kindly thank Jens Berg of NABU Mecklenburg Vorpommern bat conservation group for facilitating access to the sampling site and Gerald Kerth for providing access to lab facilities. This work was funded by a Bat Conservation International grant awarded to SJP.

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Author notes

  1. Sebastien J. Puechmaille

    Present address: ISEM, Univ Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoological Institute and Museum, University of Greifswald, Loitzer Str. 26, 17489, Greifswald, Germany

    Serena Dool, Andrea Altewischer, Nicola M. Fischer, Marcus Fritze & Sebastien J. Puechmaille

  2. Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Biomedical Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, 03824, USA

    Kevin P. Drees & Jeffrey T. Foster

  3. Pathogen and Microbiome Institute, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA

    Jeffrey T. Foster

Authors
  1. Serena Dool
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  2. Andrea Altewischer
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  3. Nicola M. Fischer
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  4. Kevin P. Drees
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  5. Jeffrey T. Foster
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  6. Marcus Fritze
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  7. Sebastien J. Puechmaille
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Correspondence to Sebastien J. Puechmaille.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Electronic supplementary material

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12686_2018_1064_MOESM1_ESM.xlsx

Supplementary material 1: Table S1 contains the genotypic and mating type data, as well as clonal richness (R) calculated per bat and per swab, as recommended in Arnaud-Haond et al. (2007). (XLSX 22 KB)

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Dool, S., Altewischer, A., Fischer, N.M. et al. Mating type determination within a microsatellite multiplex for the fungal pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of white-nose disease in bats. Conservation Genet Resour 12, 45–48 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12686-018-1064-6

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