Variation in Disease Susceptibility Is Associated With Immunogenetics in a Threatened Amphibian
7 affiliations
- 1Department of Integrative Biology The University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA.
- 2School of Biological Sciences The University of Oklahoma Norman Oklahoma USA.
- 3San Diego Natural History Museum San Diego California USA.
- 4U.S. Geological Survey Fort Collins Colorado USA.
- 5Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA.
- 6Graduate Degree Program in Ecology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA.
- 7Department of Biology Colorado State University Fort Collins Colorado USA.
Abstract
Emerging infectious diseases affect wildlife populations around the world, making effective conservation strategies essential to the long-term persistence of threatened species. Understanding the drivers of protective host responses to pathogens can help guide conservation efforts. Species that vary intraspecifically in their susceptibility to pathogens are often best for identifying significant drivers, as this reduces potentially confounding effects of highly divergent genetic and adaptive backgrounds. Boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas boreas) exhibit such intraspecific variation in disease susceptibility. This species ranges across western North America and declines due to the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) have varied in severity across populations. Previous experimental work shows that some populations of boreal toads are better able to tolerate Bd than others, though the mechanisms are currently unclear. We sequenced the immune locus MHC IIβ exon 2 across tolerant and susceptible populations of boreal toads to determine if host genetics is correlated with Bd susceptibility in this system. We found that tolerant populations differ from susceptible populations at this locus. Specifically, tolerant populations had several distinct MHC alleles, higher observed heterozygosity, and a higher proportion of alleles belonging to one of two functional supertypes. Using these data, we predicted the Bd response of additional boreal toad populations with unknown susceptibility. Boreal toad conservation efforts will benefit from the ability to identify at-risk populations and individuals with genetic signatures of Bd tolerance for use in captive breeding and reintroduction efforts.
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BibTeX
@article{clemons2026variation,
title = {{Variation in Disease Susceptibility Is Associated With Immunogenetics in a Threatened Amphibian}},
author = {Rebecca A Clemons and Anat M Belasen and Bennett M Hardy and Erin Muths and Larissa L Bailey and W Chris Funk and Kelly R Zamudio},
journal = {Evolutionary applications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1111/eva.70348},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13717072},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Variation in Disease Susceptibility Is Associated With Immunogenetics in a Threatened Amphibian
AU - Rebecca A Clemons
AU - Anat M Belasen
AU - Bennett M Hardy
AU - Erin Muths
AU - Larissa L Bailey
AU - W Chris Funk
AU - Kelly R Zamudio
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - Evolutionary applications
DO - 10.1111/eva.70348
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/PMC/PMC13717072
AB - Emerging infectious diseases affect wildlife populations around the world, making effective conservation strategies essential to the long-term persistence of threatened species. Understanding the drivers of protective host responses to pathogens can help guide conservation efforts. Species that vary intraspecifically in their susceptibility to pathogens are often best for identifying significant drivers, as this reduces potentially confounding effects of highly divergent genetic and adaptive backgrounds. Boreal toads (Anaxyrus boreas boreas) exhibit such intraspecific variation in disease susceptibility. This species ranges across western North America and declines due to the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) have varied in severity across populations. Previous experimental work shows that some populations of boreal toads are better able to tolerate Bd than others, though the mechanisms are currently unclear. We sequenced the immune locus MHC IIβ exon 2 across tolerant and susceptible populations of boreal toads to determine if host genetics is correlated with Bd susceptibility in this system. We found that tolerant populations differ from susceptible populations at this locus. Specifically, tolerant populations had several distinct MHC alleles, higher observed heterozygosity, and a higher proportion of alleles belonging to one of two functional supertypes. Using these data, we predicted the Bd response of additional boreal toad populations with unknown susceptibility. Boreal toad conservation efforts will benefit from the ability to identify at-risk populations and individuals with genetic signatures of Bd tolerance for use in captive breeding and reintroduction efforts.
SN - 1752-4571
ER -