Two distinct host-specialized fungal species cause white-nose disease in bats

Nicola M. Fischer, Imogen Dumville, Benoit Nabholz, Violeta Zhelyazkova, Ruth-Marie Stecker, Anna S. Blomberg, Serena E. Dool, Marcus Fritze, Marie-Ka Tilak, Andriy-Taras Bashta, Clothilde Chenal, Anna-Sophie Fiston-Lavier and Sebastien J. Puechmaille ()
Additional contact information
Nicola M. Fischer: University of Greifswald
Imogen Dumville: University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD
Benoit Nabholz: University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD
Violeta Zhelyazkova: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Ruth-Marie Stecker: University of Greifswald
Anna S. Blomberg: University of Turku
Serena E. Dool: University of Greifswald
Marcus Fritze: University of Greifswald
Marie-Ka Tilak: University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD
Andriy-Taras Bashta: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Clothilde Chenal: University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD
Anna-Sophie Fiston-Lavier: University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD
Sebastien J. Puechmaille: University of Greifswald

Nature, 2025, vol. 642, issue 8069, 1034-1040

Abstract: Abstract The emergence of infectious diseases, particularly those caused by fungal pathogens, poses serious threats to public health, wildlife and ecosystem stability1. Host–fungus interactions and environmental factors have been extensively examined2–4. However, the role of genetic variability in pathogens is often less well-studied, even for diseases such as white-nose in bats, which has caused one of the highest disease-driven death tolls documented in nonhuman mammals5. Previous research on white-nose disease has primarily focused on variations in disease outcomes attributed to host traits or environmental conditions6–8, but has neglected pathogen variability. Here we leverage an extensive reference collection of 5,479 fungal isolates from 27 countries to reveal that the widespread causative agent is not a single species but two sympatric cryptic species, each exhibiting host specialization. Our findings provide evidence of recombination in each species, but significant genetic differentiation across their genomes, including differences in genome organization. Both species contain geographically differentiated populations, which enabled us to identify the species introduced to North America and trace its source population to a region in Ukraine. In light of our discovery of the existence of two cryptic species of the causative agent of white-nose disease, our research underscores the need to integrate the study of pathogen variability into comprehensive disease surveillance, management and prevention strategies. This holistic approach is crucial for enhancing our understanding of diseases and implementing effective measures to prevent their spread.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09060-5 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:642:y:2025:i:8069:d:10.1038_s41586-025-09060-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09060-5

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().