Morphological and Molecular Characterizations of Psychrophilic Fungus Geomyces destructans from New York Bats with White Nose Syndrome (WNS)

PLOS ONE, May 2010

20520731

Vishnu Chaturvedi, Deborah J. Springer, Melissa J. Behr, Rama Ramani, Xiaojiang Li, Marcia K. Peck, Ping Ren, Dianna J. Bopp, Britta Wood, William A. Samsonoff, Calvin M. Butchkoski, Alan C. Hicks, Ward B. Stone, Robert J. Rudd, Sudha Chaturvedi

Massive die-offs of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) have been occurring since 2006 in hibernation sites around Albany, New York, and this problem has spread to other States in the Northeastern United States. White cottony fungal growth is seen on the snouts of affected animals, a prominent sign of White Nose Syndrome (WNS). A previous report described the involvement of the fungus Geomyces destructans in WNS, but an identical fungus was recently isolated in France from a bat that was evidently healthy. The fungus has been recovered sparsely despite plentiful availability of afflicted animals.