A village of bacteria to help frogs fight disease

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-10/vt-avo100615.php

Public Release: 7-Oct-2015
A village of bacteria to help frogs fight disease
Communities of bacteria work best to help frogs fight fungus
Virginia Tech

The naturally occurring bacteria on a frog's skin could be the most important tool for helping the animal fight off a deadly skin disease, according to an experiment conducted by Virginia Tech researchers.

Antibiotics to get rid of the normal bacteria don't significantly alter the rate of fungal infection, but they did cause the frogs to lose weight, suggesting that having their normal bacteria is important for frog health. In addition, treatment with probiotic bacteria did not decrease fungal infection as expected.

However, naturally occurring skin bacteria can respond to infection and adjust structure and function to compensate for it, according to the team.

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