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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Amphib. Reptile Sci.
Sec. Physiology and Health
Volume 2 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/famrs.2024.1503056
This article is part of the Research Topic Symbiotic Microbiomes of Amphibians and Reptiles View all 4 articles

To be included in the article collection "Symbiotic Microbiomes of Amphibians and Reptiles" in the journal Frontiers in Amphibian and Reptile Science Tetrodotoxin, Fungal Pathogen Infection, and Bacterial Microbiome Associations are Variable in the Skin Microecosystems of Two Taricha Newt Species

Provisionally accepted
Talon Jost Talon Jost 1,2*Alysha Henderson Alysha Henderson 3Brandon Labumbard Brandon Labumbard 4Krisztian Magori Krisztian Magori 2Amber Stokes Amber Stokes 5Danica Bergin Danica Bergin 5Autumn Holley Autumn Holley 2,6Molly Bletz Molly Bletz 1Obed Hernandez-Gomez Obed Hernandez-Gomez 7Gary Bucciarelli Gary Bucciarelli 8Douglas Woodhams Douglas Woodhams 4Jonah Piovia-Scott Jonah Piovia-Scott 3Jenifer B. Walke Jenifer B. Walke 2
  • 1 The Pennsylvania State University (PSU), University Park, United States
  • 2 Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Washington, United States
  • 3 Washington State University Vancouver, Vancouver, Washington, United States
  • 4 University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  • 5 California State University, Bakersfield, Bakersfield, California, United States
  • 6 The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
  • 7 New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico, United States
  • 8 University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    A diverse metabolome exists on amphibian skin that mediates interactions between hosts and skin microbiomes. Tetrodotoxin is one such metabolite that occurs across a variety of taxa, and is particularly well studied in newts of the genus Taricha that are susceptible to infection with chytrid fungi. The interaction of tetrodotoxin with the skin microbiome, including pathogenic fungi, is not well understood, and here we describe these patterns across 12 populations of Taricha granulosa and T. torosa in Washington, Oregon, and California. We found no correlation of TTX and Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) infection in either T. granulosa or T. torosa, a pattern inconsistent with a previous study. In addition, TTX, but not Bd, was significantly correlated with the skin microbiome composition in T. granulosa. In T. torosa, however, Bd, but not TTX, was correlated with the skin microbiome structure. The relationship between TTX and skin microbiome composition differed between species, with significant correlations observed only in T. granulosa, which exhibited higher TTX concentrations.The Formatted: Font: Italic selective pressure of TTX shaping skin microbiomes in T. granulosa may have been greater than in T. torosa given higher TTX concentrations in T. granulosa. We also detected significantly higher abundances of bacterial taxa (e.g., Pseudomonadaceae) associated with TTX production in newts with higher skin TTX. These taxa (ASVs matching Aeromonas, Pseudomonas, Shewanella, and Sphingopyxis) were associated with all body sites of previously sampled T.granulosa, but not found in soil samples. Our results suggest that toxins can shape the newt skin microbiome and may influence pathogen infection through indirect mechanisms, as TTX showed no direct inhibition of Bd or B. salamandrivorans growth.Together these results provide a baseline for further hypothesis development, including the suggestion that toxins can shape the newt skin microbiome and may influence infection by pathogens, even if not directly inhibitory to pathogens, as is the case of TTX showing no direct inhibition of Bd or B. salamandrivorans growth..

    Keywords: Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, Chytridiomycosis, disease ecology, microbial ecology, TTX, Symbiosis, coevolution Font: 8 pt

    Received: 28 Sep 2024; Accepted: 16 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Jost, Henderson, Labumbard, Magori, Stokes, Bergin, Holley, Bletz, Hernandez-Gomez, Bucciarelli, Woodhams, Piovia-Scott and Walke. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Talon Jost, The Pennsylvania State University (PSU), University Park, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.