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Dr Jekyll and Mrs Hyde: Risky hybrid sex by amphibian‐parasitizing chytrids in the Brazilian Atlantic Forests
Author(s) -
Ghosh Pria,
Fisher Matthew C.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.13668
Subject(s) - biology , amphibian , chytridiomycosis , biological dispersal , biosecurity , ecology , biodiversity , lineage (genetic) , zoology , population , genetics , demography , sociology , gene
In their article in this issue of Molecular Ecology, Jenkinson et al . ([Jenkinson TS, 2016]) and colleagues address a worrying question—how could arguably the most dangerous pathogen known to science, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ), become even more virulent? The answer: start having sex. Jenkinson et al . present a case for how the introduction into Brazil of the globally invasive lineage of Bd , Bd GPL , has disrupted the relationship between native amphibians and an endemic Bd lineage, Bd Brazil. Bd Brazil is hypothesized to be native to the Atlantic Forest and so have a long co‐evolutionary history with biodiverse Atlantic Forest amphibian community. The authors suggest that this has resulted in a zone of hybrid Bd genotypes which are potentially more likely to cause fatal chytridiomycosis than either parent lineage. The endemic–nonendemic Bd hybrid genotypes described in this study, and the evidence for pathogen translocation via the global amphibian trade presented, highlights the danger of anthropogenic pathogen dispersal. This research emphasizes that biosecurity regulations may have to refocus on lineages within species if we are to mitigate against the danger of new, possibly hypervirulent genotypes of pathogens emerging as phylogeographic barriers are breached.