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Leveraging preserved specimens of Nerodia to infer the spatiotemporal dynamics of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola via quantitative polymerase chain reaction

Ophidiomyces ophidiicola (Oo) is a fungal pathogen and the causative agent of ophidiomycosis that has affected multiple snake taxa across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Ophidiomycosis has often been referred to as an emerging infectious disease (EID); however, its status as an EID has recently...

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Autores principales: Harding, Stephen F., Moretta‐Urdiales, Maria Del Mar, Nordmeyer, Stephanie C., Wostl, Elijah, Rodriguez, David
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10111236/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37082316
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9998
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author Harding, Stephen F.
Moretta‐Urdiales, Maria Del Mar
Nordmeyer, Stephanie C.
Wostl, Elijah
Rodriguez, David
author_facet Harding, Stephen F.
Moretta‐Urdiales, Maria Del Mar
Nordmeyer, Stephanie C.
Wostl, Elijah
Rodriguez, David
author_sort Harding, Stephen F.
collection PubMed
description Ophidiomyces ophidiicola (Oo) is a fungal pathogen and the causative agent of ophidiomycosis that has affected multiple snake taxa across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Ophidiomycosis has often been referred to as an emerging infectious disease (EID); however, its status as an EID has recently come under debate. Oo infections have been confirmed in wild snake populations in Texas; however, it is unknown if the pathogen is novel (i.e., invasive) or endemic to the state. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted surveys for Oo among preserved Nerodia deposited at three university museums in Texas. First, we visually assessed snakes for signs of infection (SOI), and if SOI were present, we sampled the affected area. We then used quantitative polymerase chain reaction to diagnose the presence of Oo DNA on areas with SOI and used these data to evaluate spatiotemporal patterns of Oo prevalence. We also tested for significant spatial clusters of Oo infenction using a Bernoulli probability model as implemented in the program SatScan. We found that the proportion of snakes exhibiting SOI was constant over time while the prevalence of Oo DNA among those SOI increased across space and time. Within these data, we detected an incidence pattern consistent with an introduction and then spread. We detected six spatial clusters of Oo infection, although only one was significant. Our results support the hypothesis that Oo is an emerging, novel pathogen to Texas snakes. These data narrow the knowledge gap regarding the history of Oo infections in Texas and establish a historical record of confirmed Oo detections in several counties across the state. Thus, our results will guide future research to those areas with evidence of past Oo infections but lacking confirmation in contemporary hosts.
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spelling pubmed-101112362023-04-19 Leveraging preserved specimens of Nerodia to infer the spatiotemporal dynamics of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola via quantitative polymerase chain reaction Harding, Stephen F. Moretta‐Urdiales, Maria Del Mar Nordmeyer, Stephanie C. Wostl, Elijah Rodriguez, David Ecol Evol Research Articles Ophidiomyces ophidiicola (Oo) is a fungal pathogen and the causative agent of ophidiomycosis that has affected multiple snake taxa across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Ophidiomycosis has often been referred to as an emerging infectious disease (EID); however, its status as an EID has recently come under debate. Oo infections have been confirmed in wild snake populations in Texas; however, it is unknown if the pathogen is novel (i.e., invasive) or endemic to the state. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted surveys for Oo among preserved Nerodia deposited at three university museums in Texas. First, we visually assessed snakes for signs of infection (SOI), and if SOI were present, we sampled the affected area. We then used quantitative polymerase chain reaction to diagnose the presence of Oo DNA on areas with SOI and used these data to evaluate spatiotemporal patterns of Oo prevalence. We also tested for significant spatial clusters of Oo infenction using a Bernoulli probability model as implemented in the program SatScan. We found that the proportion of snakes exhibiting SOI was constant over time while the prevalence of Oo DNA among those SOI increased across space and time. Within these data, we detected an incidence pattern consistent with an introduction and then spread. We detected six spatial clusters of Oo infection, although only one was significant. Our results support the hypothesis that Oo is an emerging, novel pathogen to Texas snakes. These data narrow the knowledge gap regarding the history of Oo infections in Texas and establish a historical record of confirmed Oo detections in several counties across the state. Thus, our results will guide future research to those areas with evidence of past Oo infections but lacking confirmation in contemporary hosts. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2023-04-18 /pmc/articles/PMC10111236/ /pubmed/37082316 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9998 Text en © 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Harding, Stephen F.
Moretta‐Urdiales, Maria Del Mar
Nordmeyer, Stephanie C.
Wostl, Elijah
Rodriguez, David
Leveraging preserved specimens of Nerodia to infer the spatiotemporal dynamics of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola via quantitative polymerase chain reaction
title Leveraging preserved specimens of Nerodia to infer the spatiotemporal dynamics of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola via quantitative polymerase chain reaction
title_full Leveraging preserved specimens of Nerodia to infer the spatiotemporal dynamics of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola via quantitative polymerase chain reaction
title_fullStr Leveraging preserved specimens of Nerodia to infer the spatiotemporal dynamics of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola via quantitative polymerase chain reaction
title_full_unstemmed Leveraging preserved specimens of Nerodia to infer the spatiotemporal dynamics of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola via quantitative polymerase chain reaction
title_short Leveraging preserved specimens of Nerodia to infer the spatiotemporal dynamics of Ophidiomyces ophidiicola via quantitative polymerase chain reaction
title_sort leveraging preserved specimens of nerodia to infer the spatiotemporal dynamics of ophidiomyces ophidiicola via quantitative polymerase chain reaction
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10111236/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37082316
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9998
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