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The Effects of Cutaneous Fatty Acids on the Growth of Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the Etiological Agent of White-Nose Syndrome (WNS)
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, Vol 11, Iss 4, p e0153535 (2016), PLoS ONE
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2016.
-
Abstract
- White Nose Syndrome (WNS) greatly increases the over-winter mortality of little brown (Myotis lucifugus), Indiana (Myotis sodalis), northern (Myotis septentrionalis), and tricolored (Perimyotis subflavus) bats. It is caused by a cutaneous infection with the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd). Big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) are much more resistant to cutaneous infection with Pd, however. We thus conducted analyses of wing epidermis from hibernating E. fuscus and M. lucifugus to determine their fatty acid compositions, and laboratory Pd culture experiments at 4.0–13.4°C to determine the effects of these fatty acids on Pd growth. Our analyses revealed that the epidermis of both bat species contain the same 7 fatty acid types (14:0, 15:0, 16:0. 16:1, 18:0, 18:1, & 18:2), but the epidermis of M. lucifugus contains: a) more stearic (18:0) acid, b) less palmitoleic (16:1) acid, c) less myristic (14:0) acid, and, d) less oleic (18:1) acid than that of E. fuscus. The growth of Pd was inhibited by: a) myristic and stearic acids at 10.5–13.4°C, but not at 4.0–5.0°C, b) oleic acid at 5.0–10.6°C, c) palmitoleic acid, and, d) linoleic (18:2) acid at 5.0–10.6°C. One set of factors that enables E. fuscus to better resist cutaneous P. destructans infections (and thus WNS) therefore appears to be the relatively higher myristic, palmitoleic, and oleic acid contents of the epidermis.
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
Physiology
lcsh:Medicine
Biochemistry
01 natural sciences
chemistry.chemical_compound
Hibernation
Chiroptera
Wings
Bats
Medicine and Health Sciences
Wings, Animal
Palmitoleic acid
Animal Anatomy
lcsh:Science
Skin
Mammals
chemistry.chemical_classification
Multidisciplinary
Animal Behavior
biology
Fatty Acids
Myotis lucifugus
Lipids
3. Good health
Vertebrates
Anatomy
Integumentary System
Research Article
Linoleic acid
010603 evolutionary biology
Microbiology
Linoleic Acid
03 medical and health sciences
Myotis septentrionalis
Ascomycota
Eptesicus fuscus
Pseudogymnoascus destructans
Animals
Dermatomycoses
Behavior
lcsh:R
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
Fatty acid
biology.organism_classification
Oleic acid
030104 developmental biology
chemistry
Amniotes
lcsh:Q
Epidermis
Physiological Processes
Zoology
Oleic Acid
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Volume :
- 11
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....35ca9b85544c7666fb56a0ee5b32a2cf