First isolation of Pseudogymnoascus destructans in bats from Portugal.
Data
2014
Autores
Coelho, Ana Cláudia
Santos, Mário
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ISSN da revista
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Editora
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
Resumo
The psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus
destructans (formerly known as Geomyces destructans) is
considered the etiological agent of white-nose disease
(WND), an emerging disease which affects bats during their
hibernation period. This disease is clinically characterized by
the growth of a white fungus on muzzle, ears, and wings’
membranes of affected bats. This infection caused the death of
several million bats in North America. Conversely, European
bats show no evidence of significant mortality occurrences
associated with P. destructans colonization. This fungus has
been isolated from bats in at least 15 European countries since
2008, but was never before reported in the Iberian Peninsula.
This study describes the first case report of P. destructans
colonization in bats from Portugal.We isolated P. destructans
from three hibernating Myotis blythii (lesser mouse-eared bat)
with visual signs of P. destructans colonization, during a
routine visit to a mine located in the Trás-os-Montes region,
Northern Portugal. M. blythii is one of the rarest bat species in
Europe, classified as critically endangered in Portugal.
P. destructans was obtained from at least three different parts
of the body of each specimen analyzed. The identification of
the respective fungal isolates was based on the macroscopic
and microscopic characterization of the cultures and confirmed
by PCR-based analysis. All nucleotide sequences obtained
showed 100 % identity with previous data reported for
P. destructans. This new finding improves the current knowledge
about the European distribution of P. destructans, which
is of great interest for forthcoming studies on the fungus
dispersion and impact among bat populations at regional
and/or global level.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
Pseudogymnoascus destructans , White-nose disease , WND , Bat , Myotis blythii , Portugal
Citação
Paiva-Cardoso et al. 2014