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Exposure to Corticosterone Affects Host Resistance, but Not Tolerance, to an Emerging Fungal Pathogen.

ABSTRACT: Host responses to pathogens include defenses that reduce infection burden (i.e., resistance) and traits that reduce the fitness consequences of an infection (i.e., tolerance). Resistance and tolerance are affected by an organism's physiological status. Corticosterone ("CORT") is a hormone that is associated with the regulation of many physiological processes, including metabolism and reproduction. Because of its role in the stress response, CORT is also considered the primary vertebrate stress hormone. When secreted at high levels, CORT is generally thought to be immunosuppressive. Despite the known association between stress and disease resistance in domesticated organisms, it is unclear whether these associations are ecologically and evolutionary relevant in wildlife species. We conducted a 3x3 fully crossed experiment in which we exposed American toads (Anaxyrus [Bufo] americanus) to one of three levels of exogenous CORT (no CORT, low CORT, or high CORT) and then to either low or high doses of the pathogenic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ("Bd") or a sham exposure treatment. We assessed Bd infection levels and tested how CORT and Bd affected toad resistance, tolerance, and mortality. Exposure to the high CORT treatment significantly elevated CORT release in toads; however, there was no difference between toads given no CORT or low CORT. Exposure to CORT and Bd each increased toad mortality, but they did not interact to affect mortality. Toads that were exposed to CORT had higher Bd resistance than toads exposed to ethanol controls/low CORT, a pattern opposite that of most studies on domesticated animals. Exposure to CORT did not affect toad tolerance to Bd. Collectively, these results show that physiological stressors can alter a host's response to a pathogen, but that the outcome might not be straightforward. Future studies that inhibit CORT secretion are needed to better our understanding of the relationship between stress physiology and disease resistance and tolerance in wild vertebrates.

SUBMITTER: Murone J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5045185 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Exposure to Corticosterone Affects Host Resistance, but Not Tolerance, to an Emerging Fungal Pathogen.

Murone Julie J DeMarchi Joseph A JA Venesky Matthew D MD

PloS one 20160930 9

Host responses to pathogens include defenses that reduce infection burden (i.e., resistance) and traits that reduce the fitness consequences of an infection (i.e., tolerance). Resistance and tolerance are affected by an organism's physiological status. Corticosterone ("CORT") is a hormone that is associated with the regulation of many physiological processes, including metabolism and reproduction. Because of its role in the stress response, CORT is also considered the primary vertebrate stress h ...[more]

PMID: 27690360

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Project description:Interactions of pathogen infection, host plant resistance, and fungal communities are poorly understood. Although the use of resistant watermelon cultivars is an effective control measure of watermelon wilt disease, fungal communities may also have significant effects on the development of the soil-borne pathogen complexes. We characterized the root and rhizosphere fungal communities associated with healthy and diseased watermelons of three different cultivars with different susceptibilities toward wilt disease by paired-end Illumina MiSeq sequencing. Thirty watermelon plants including highly wilt-resistant, moderately resistant, and susceptible cultivars were collected from a greenhouse, half of which showing clear wilt symptoms and the other half with no symptoms. Patterns of watermelon wilt disease and the response of the fungal communities varied among the three cultivars. The amount of the pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum was higher in diseased root and rhizosphere samples, particularly in the susceptible cultivar, and was significantly positively correlated with the disease index of Fusarium wilt. Plant health had significant effects on root-associated fungal communities, whereas only the highly resistant cultivar had significant effects only on the rhizosphere fungal communities. Co-occurrence networks revealed a higher complexity of fungal communities in the symptom-free roots compared to diseased roots. In addition, networks from roots of the highly resistant plants showing symptoms had a higher complexity compared to the susceptible cultivars. Keystone species were identified for the plants with different symptom severity and the different cultivars in the root and rhizosphere, such as Fusarium oxysporum, Monosporascus cannonballus, and Mortierella alpina. Overall, the most important factor determining fungal communities in the roots was plant symptom severity, whereas in the rhizosphere, plant genotype was the most important factor determining fungal communities.

Dataset Information

Exposure to Corticosterone Affects Host Resistance, but Not Tolerance, to an Emerging Fungal Pathogen.

Publications

Exposure to Corticosterone Affects Host Resistance, but Not Tolerance, to an Emerging Fungal Pathogen.

Similar Datasets

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