Skin innate immunity of diskless-fingered odorous frogs (Odorrana grahami) with spatial-temporal variations

Abstract

The skin innate immunities of diskless-fingered odorous frogs (Odorrana grahami) from three populations were investigated. The antimicrobial capacities of skin secretions against the 60 representative environmental bacterial strains were evaluated using the values of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) equivalents, which were defined as the volumes of antimicrobial solution just inhibiting the tested bacteria per 1 cm2 of surface area, from 0.06 to 9.10 mL/cm2. Our results revealed significantly different skin antimicrobial capacities among the three populations: Mianning < Huili < Kunming. Within the frog population, the skin antimicrobial capacities are highly variable depending on the season: in Mianning frogs, summer < autumn and spring; in Huili frogs, spring < autumn < summer; in Kunming frogs, autumn < spring < summer. The animal density and body mass significantly impacted the skin antimicrobial capacity, while the sex ratio and soil or water bacterial counts did not.