Immune Mechanisms of Disease Resistance in Amphibian Skin

全球两栖动物数量正遭受前所未有的下降。虽然许多因素导致了这些下降，但压倒性的证据表明，许多下降与一种新出现的传染病——壶菌病有关，这种疾病是由皮肤真菌壶菌引起的。这场全球性的生态危机为研究野生动物物种抗病的免疫机制提供了一个独特的机会。该项目将研究保护一些耐药两栖动物物种的免疫机制，以便制定更好的策略来保护更易感的两栖动物。青蛙产生的一组保护因子是一组被称为抗菌肽（AMPs）的小皮肤蛋白质。另一个可能的防御是由生活在青蛙皮肤上的细菌群落提供的。保护脆弱的两栖动物的一种可能的策略是将能够干扰真菌的保护性细菌从抗性青蛙转移到易感青蛙身上。该项目将识别栖息在青蛙皮肤上的新细菌种类，并释放抗真菌产品。这些研究将促进我们对两栖动物基本免疫防御机制的理解，同时促进教育和培训。新的抗菌肽或细菌产物可能对人类医学具有治疗价值。这项研究将支持两栖动物的保护工作，通过开发治疗或管理策略来保护圈养的稀有濒危物种，直到创始种群可以回归野外。

Amphibian populations are suffering unprecedented global population declines. Although many factors contribute to these declines, overwhelming evidence links many declines to an emerging infectious disease, chytridiomycosis, caused by the skin fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. This global ecological crisis provides a unique opportunity to study immune mechanisms of disease resistance in wildlife species. The project will investigate immune mechanisms that protect some resistant amphibian species in order to develop better strategies to protect more susceptible amphibians. One set of protective factors produced by frogs is the set of small skin proteins called antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Another possible defense is provided by the community of bacteria that live on frog skin. A possible strategy to protect vulnerable amphibians is to transfer protective bacteria that can interfere with the fungus from resistant frogs to susceptible frogs. The project will identify new species of bacteria that inhabit frog skin and release antifungal products. These studies will advance our understanding of fundamental immune defense mechanisms in amphibians while promoting education and training. New AMPs or bacterial products may have therapeutic value for human medicine. The research will support amphibian conservation efforts by development of treatment or management strategies to protect rare endangered species in captivity until a time when founder populations can be returned to the wild.