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Title: High-efficiency electroporation of chytridfungi
Abstract Two species of parasitic fungi from the phylum Chytridiomycota (chytrids)are annihilating global amphibian populations. These chytrid species— Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis and B. salamandrivorans —have high rates of mortality and transmission. Uponestablishing infection in amphibians, chytrids rapidly multiply within the skin anddisrupt their hosts’ vital homeostasis mechanisms. Current disease models suggest thatchytrid fungi locate and infect their hosts during a motile, unicellular ‘zoospore’ lifestage. Moreover, other chytrid species parasitize organisms from across the tree oflife, making future epidemics in new hosts a likely possibility. Efforts to mitigate thedamage and spread of chytrid disease have been stymied by the lack of knowledge aboutbasic chytrid biology and tools with which to test molecular hypotheses about diseasemechanisms. To overcome this bottleneck, we have developed high-efficiency delivery ofmolecular payloads into chytrid zoospores using electroporation. Our electroporationprotocols result in payload delivery to between 75 and 97% of living cells of threespecies: B. dendrobatidis, B. salamandrivorans, and anon-pathogenic relative, Spizellomyces punctatus .This method lays the foundation for molecular genetic tools needed to establishecological mitigation strategies and answer broader questions in evolutionary and cellbiology.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1827257
NSF-PAR ID:
10280098
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Volume:
10
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2045-2322
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
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