FUNGUS THAT ATTACKS FROGS ORIGINATED IN EAST ASIA: STUDY.

The chytrid fungus - which has caused amphibian declines worldwide and has been recorded in India too - possibly originated in East Asia, shows a study published in the international journal Science. Scientists from 38 institutions across the world gathered samples of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd, also known as chytrid fungus, which causes an infectious and fatal skin disease called chytridiomycosis) and compared the genomes of 234 of these pathogens to trace the origins of the fungus. "In our paper we [...] show that the lineage which has caused such devastation can be traced back to East Asia", said lead author Simon O'Hanlon from the Imperial College, London, in a press release.
The team also found that the disease is not many thousands of years old as previously thought, but expanded greatly between 50 and 120 years ago, coinciding with the rapid global expansion of inter-continental trade. Thus, the movement of amphibians by humans - such as through the pet trade - has directly contributed to spreading the pathogen around the world.
Ban on trade: The scientists therefore recommended a ban on trade in amphibians from Asia, due to the high risk associated with exporting previously unknown strains of chytrid out of this region. The chytrid fungus has affected around 700 amphibian species worldwide and caused frog declines and even extinctions in many areas. Though first reported in frogs in South America in 1997, the killer fungus has also been recorded from several frog species and populations in the Western Ghats. The first record was from the Ponmudi Hills of South Kerala in 2011. Two years later, scientists, including Sanjay Molur of the Zoo Outreach Organisation, recorded a chytrid strain specific to Asia in three endemic and threatened frog species from the Northern Western Ghats. A study in 2015 by Mr. Molur and his team also suggests that chytridiomycosis could be 'widespread' among endemic  and threatened amphibians all along the Western Ghats.
"We feel that the Asian strain may have co-evolved in native populations, manifested in some individuals due to environmental stress, but not potent enough to cause mass deaths yet", said Mr. Molur, adding that more research would be required to confirm this.
--Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy--
[Based on an article written by Aathira Perinchery, published in 'The Hindu' dated 11th May, 2018 (Friday)].
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