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First Report of Culturable Skin Bacteria in Melanophryniscus admirabilis (Admirable Redbelly Toad)

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Abstract

Melanophryniscus admirabilis is a small toad, critically endangered with a microendemic distribution in the Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil. The amphibian skin microbiome is considered one of the first lines of defense against pathogenic infections, such as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). The knowledge of skin amphibian microbiomes is important to numerous fields, including species conservation, detection, and quantification of environmental changes and stressors. In the present study, we investigated, for the first time, cultivable bacteria in the skin of wild M. admirabilis, and detected Bd fungus by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique. Skin swab samples were collected from 15 wild M. admirabilis, and the isolation of bacteria was performed by means of different culture strategies. A total of 62 bacterial isolates being Bacillus (n = 22; 34.48%), Citrobacter (n = 10; 16.13%), and Serratia (n = 12; 19.35%) were more frequently isolated genera. Interestingly, all skin samples tested were Bd negative. Some bacterial genera identified in our study might be acting in a synergic relationship and protecting them against the Bd fungus. In addition, these bacteria may play an essential role in maintaining this species in an environment modulated by anthropic actions. This first report of skin cultivable bacteria from M. admirabilis natural population improves our knowledge of skin amphibian microbiomes, contributing to a better understanding of their ecology and how this species has survived in an environment modulated by anthropic action.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to ICMBio for the collection permits (No. 40004-5 and 10341-1); Prof. Selene Dall'Acqua Coutinho for the molecular biology supplies to detect the presence of Bd fungus; Debora Bordignon, and Pedro Augusto Thomas for helping us in the field; Dr. Michelle Bertoni Mann and Rosana Huff for their support in the molecular biology analysis.

Funding

This work was supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Brasil (#309769/2020–5, and #305495/2018–6) and Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) of the Brazilian government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Post-Graduation Program in Agricultural and Environmental Microbiology, Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Parasitology, Federal University of Rio Grande Do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Julia Ienes-Lima & Ana Paula Guedes Frazzon

  2. Gram-Positive Cocci Laboratory, Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Janira Prichula

  3. Post-Graduation Program in Animal Biology, Department of Zoology, Biosciences Institute, Federal University of Rio Grande Do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil

    Michelle Abadie & Márcio Borges-Martins

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  1. Julia Ienes-Lima
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  2. Janira Prichula
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  3. Michelle Abadie
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  4. Márcio Borges-Martins
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  5. Ana Paula Guedes Frazzon
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Julia Ienes-Lima, Janira Prichula, and Michelle Abadie. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Julia Ienes-Lima, Janira Prichula, Márcio Borges-Martins, and Ana Paula Guedes Frazzon and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ana Paula Guedes Frazzon.

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Ienes-Lima, J., Prichula, J., Abadie, M. et al. First Report of Culturable Skin Bacteria in Melanophryniscus admirabilis (Admirable Redbelly Toad). Microb Ecol 86, 756–761 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-022-02069-7

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