The skin I live in: Pathogenesis of white-nose syndrome of bats.

The emergence of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in North America has resulted in mass mortalities of hibernating bats and total extirpation of local populations. The need to mitigate this disease has stirred a significant body of research to understand its pathogenesis. Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the...

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Main Authors: Marcos Isidoro-Ayza, Jeffrey M Lorch, Bruce S Klein
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-08-01
Series:PLoS Pathogens
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1012342
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author Marcos Isidoro-Ayza
Jeffrey M Lorch
Bruce S Klein
author_facet Marcos Isidoro-Ayza
Jeffrey M Lorch
Bruce S Klein
author_sort Marcos Isidoro-Ayza
collection DOAJ
description The emergence of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in North America has resulted in mass mortalities of hibernating bats and total extirpation of local populations. The need to mitigate this disease has stirred a significant body of research to understand its pathogenesis. Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of WNS, is a psychrophilic (cold-loving) fungus that resides within the class Leotiomycetes, which contains mainly plant pathogens and is unrelated to other consequential pathogens of animals. In this review, we revisit the unique biology of hibernating bats and P. destructans and provide an updated analysis of the stages and mechanisms of WNS progression. The extreme life history of hibernating bats, the psychrophilic nature of P. destructans, and its evolutionary distance from other well-characterized animal-infecting fungi translate into unique host-pathogen interactions, many of them yet to be discovered.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1553-7366
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language English
publishDate 2024-08-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS Pathogens
spelling doaj-art-daec6b9c63d8451e80d444c9665dc90a2025-08-20T03:51:19ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Pathogens1553-73661553-73742024-08-01208e101234210.1371/journal.ppat.1012342The skin I live in: Pathogenesis of white-nose syndrome of bats.Marcos Isidoro-AyzaJeffrey M LorchBruce S KleinThe emergence of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in North America has resulted in mass mortalities of hibernating bats and total extirpation of local populations. The need to mitigate this disease has stirred a significant body of research to understand its pathogenesis. Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the causative agent of WNS, is a psychrophilic (cold-loving) fungus that resides within the class Leotiomycetes, which contains mainly plant pathogens and is unrelated to other consequential pathogens of animals. In this review, we revisit the unique biology of hibernating bats and P. destructans and provide an updated analysis of the stages and mechanisms of WNS progression. The extreme life history of hibernating bats, the psychrophilic nature of P. destructans, and its evolutionary distance from other well-characterized animal-infecting fungi translate into unique host-pathogen interactions, many of them yet to be discovered.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1012342
spellingShingle Marcos Isidoro-Ayza
Jeffrey M Lorch
Bruce S Klein
The skin I live in: Pathogenesis of white-nose syndrome of bats.
PLoS Pathogens
title The skin I live in: Pathogenesis of white-nose syndrome of bats.
title_full The skin I live in: Pathogenesis of white-nose syndrome of bats.
title_fullStr The skin I live in: Pathogenesis of white-nose syndrome of bats.
title_full_unstemmed The skin I live in: Pathogenesis of white-nose syndrome of bats.
title_short The skin I live in: Pathogenesis of white-nose syndrome of bats.
title_sort skin i live in pathogenesis of white nose syndrome of bats
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1012342
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