Abstract
White Nose Syndrome (WNS) greatly increases the over-winter mortality of little brown (Myotis lucifugus), Indiana (M. sodalis), northern (M. septentrionalis), and tricolored (Perimyotis subflavus) bats, and is caused by cutaneous infections with Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd). Big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) are highly resistant to Pd infections. Seven different fatty acids (myristic, pentadecanoic, palmitic, palmitoleic, oleic, and, linoleic acids) occur in the wing epidermis of both M. lucifugus and E. fuscus, 4 of which (myristic, palmitoleic, oleic, and, linoleic acids) inhibit Pd growth. The amounts of myristic and linoleic acids in the epidermis of M. lucifugus decrease during hibernation, thus we predicted that the epidermal fatty acid profile of M. lucifugus during hibernation has a reduced ability to inhibit Pd growth. Laboratory Pd growth experiments were conducted to test this hypothesis. The results demonstrated that the fatty acid profile of M. lucifugus wing epidermis during hibernation has a reduced ability to inhibit the growth of Pd. Additional Pd growth experiments revealed that: a) triacylglycerols composed of known anti-Pd fatty acids do not significantly affect growth, b) pentadecanoic acid inhibits Pd growth, and c) 1-oleoglycerol, which is found in the wing epidermis of E. fuscus, also inhibits the growth of this fungus. Analyses of white adipose from M. lucifugus also revealed the selective retention of oleic and linoleic acids in this tissue during hibernation.
Highlights
White-nose Syndrome (WNS) is an emergent disease that has killed over 6,000,000 bats in the USA and Canada
The mean colony area of the 0.25% pentadecanoic acid and control treatments were not significantly different from each other (Fig 1), and both were significantly greater than the area of the 1.0% pentadecanoic acid treatment at 42 d (F2,36 = 14.352, p < 0.001) in the high Ta group of Experiment A
The results of Experiment A clearly support the hypothesis that the growth of Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd) is inhibited by pentadecanoic acid
Summary
White-nose Syndrome (WNS) is an emergent disease that has killed over 6,000,000 bats in the USA and Canada. Mass mortality with WNS was first found at 6 caves in central NY State during the winters of 2007-08/08-09. WNS has since spread to bat hibernation sites located in 31 U.S states and 5 Canadian provinces. WNS produces over-winter mortality rates of 75–98% for these in the northeast: little brown (Myotis lucifugus), Indiana (M. sodalis) northern longeared (M. septentrionalis) and tricolored (Perimyotis subflavus) bats [1].
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