Batrachochytrium
| Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis | |
|---|---|
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| Zoosporangia of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis growing on a freshwater arthropod (a) and on algae (b). The scale bars represent 30 µm. | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Chytridiomycota |
| Class: | Chytridiomycetes |
| Order: | Rhizophydiales |
| Genus: | Batrachochytrium |
| Species: | B. dendrobatidis |
| Binomial name | |
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Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Longcore, Pessier & D.K. Nichols (1999) |
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Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, (bə-TRAY-koh-KIT-ri-um DEN-droh-bə-teye-dis) also known as Bd or the amphibian chytrid fungus, is a fungus that causes the disease chytridiomycosis in amphibians.
In the decade after it was first discovered in 1998, the disease devastated amphibian populations around the world, in a global decline towards multiple extinctions, part of the Holocene extinction. A recently described second species, B. salamandrivorans, also cause chytridiomycosis and death in salamanders.
Some amphibian species appear to have an innate capacity to withstand chytridiomycosis infection due to symbiosis with Janthinobacterium lividum. Even within species that generally succumb, some populations survive, possibly demonstrating that these traits or alleles of species are being subjected to evolutionary selection.
The generic name is derived from the Greek words batrachos (frog) and chytra (earthen pot), while the specific epithet is derived from the genus of frogs from which the original confirmation of pathogenicity was made (Dendrobates),dendrobatidis is from the Greek dendron, "tree" and bates, "one who climbs", referring to a genus of poison dart frogs.
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis was until recently considered the single species of the genus Batrachochytrium. The initial classification of the pathogen as a chytrid was based on zoospore ultrastructure. DNA analysis of the ssu-rDNA has corroborated the view, with the closest match to Chytridium confervae. A second species of Batrachochytrium was discovered in 2013: B. salamandrivorans, which mainly affects salamanders and also causes chytridiomycosis.B. salamandrivorans differs from B. dendrobatidis primarily in the formation of germ tubes in vitro, the formation of colonial thalli with multiple sporangia in vivo, and a lower thermal preference.
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