Recent Asian origin of chytrid fungi causing global amphibian declines
O’Hanlon SJ., Rieux A., Farrer RA., Rosa GM., Waldman B., Bataille A., Kosch TA., Murray KA., Brankovics B., Fumagalli M., Martin MD., Wales N., Alvarado-Rybak M., Bates KA., Berger L., Böll S., Brookes L., Clare F., Courtois EA., Cunningham AA., Doherty-Bone TM., Ghosh P., Gower DJ., Hintz WE., Höglund J., Jenkinson TS., Lin C-F., Laurila A., Loyau A., Martel A., Meurling S., Miaud C., Minting P., Pasmans F., Schmeller DS., Schmidt BR., Shelton JMG., Skerratt LF., Smith F., Soto-Azat C., Spagnoletti M., Tessa G., Toledo LF., Valenzuela-Sánchez A., Verster R., Vörös J., Webb RJ., Wierzbicki C., Wombwell E., Zamudio KR., Aanensen DM., James TY., Gilbert MTP., Weldon C., Bosch J., Balloux F., Garner TWJ., Fisher MC.
Panzootic chytrid fungus out of Asia Species in the fungal genus Batrachochytrium are responsible for severe declines in the populations of amphibians globally. The sources of these pathogens have been uncertain. O'Hanlon et al. used genomics on a panel of more than 200 isolates to trace the source of the frog pathogen B. dendrobatidis to a hyperdiverse hotspot in the Korean peninsula (see the Perspective by Lips). Over the past century, the trade in amphibian species has accelerated, and now all lineages of B. dendrobatidis occur in traded amphibians; the fungus has become ubiquitous and is diversifying rapidly. Science , this issue p. 621 ; see also p. 604