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.
Globalized infectious diseases are causing species declines worldwide, but their source often remains elusive. We used whole-genome sequencing to solve the spatiotemporal origins of the most devastating panzootic to date, caused by the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, a proximate driver of global amphibian declines. We traced the source of B. dendrobatidis to the Korean peninsula, where one lineage, BdASIA-1, exhibits the genetic hallmarks of an ancestral population that seeded the panzootic. We date the emergence of this pathogen to the early 20th century, coinciding with the global expansion of commercial trade in amphibians, and we show that intercontinental transmission is ongoing. Our findings point to East Asia as a geographic hotspot for B. dendrobatidis biodiversity and the original source of these lineages that now parasitize amphibians worldwide.