Journal article
Chytridiomycosis causes catastrophic organism-wide metabolic dysregulation including profound failure of cellular energy pathways
Scientific Reports, Vol.8(1)
2018
Abstract
Chytridiomycosis is among several recently emerged fungal diseases of wildlife that have caused decline or extinction of naïve populations. Despite recent advances in understanding pathogenesis, host response to infection remains poorly understood. Here we modelled a total of 162 metabolites across skin and liver tissues of 61 frogs from four populations (three long-exposed and one naïve to the fungus) of the Australian alpine tree frog (Litoria verreauxii alpina) throughout a longitudinal exposure experiment involving both infected and negative control individuals. We found that chytridiomycosis dramatically altered the organism-wide metabolism of clinically diseased frogs. Chytridiomycosis caused catastrophic failure of normal homeostatic mechanisms (interruption of biosynthetic and degradation metabolic pathways), and pronounced dysregulation of cellular energy metabolism. Key intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle were markedly depleted, including in particular α-ketoglutarate and glutamate that together constitute a key nutrient pathway for immune processes. This study was the first to apply a non-targeted metabolomics approach to a fungal wildlife disease and specifically to dissect the host-pathogen interface of Bd-infected frogs. The patterns of metabolite accumulation we have identified reveal whole-body metabolic dysfunction induced by a fungal skin infection, and these findings have broad relevance for other fungal diseases.
Details
- Title
- Chytridiomycosis causes catastrophic organism-wide metabolic dysregulation including profound failure of cellular energy pathways
- Authors/Creators
- L.F. Grogan (Author/Creator) - Griffith UniversityL.F. Skerratt (Author/Creator) - James Cook UniversityL. Berger (Author/Creator) - James Cook UniversityS.D. Cashins (Author/Creator) - James Cook UniversityR.D. Trengove (Author/Creator) - Murdoch UniversityJ.P.A. Gummer (Author/Creator) - Murdoch University
- Publication Details
- Scientific Reports, Vol.8(1)
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Identifiers
- 991005542869407891
- Murdoch Affiliation
- Separation Science and Metabolomics Laboratory
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Citation topics
- 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
- 3.35 Zoology & Animal Ecology
- 3.35.790 Amphibian Ecology
- Web Of Science research areas
- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
- ESI research areas
- Biology & Biochemistry