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Skin microbes on frogs prevent morbidity and mortality caused by a lethal skin fungus

Overview of attention for article published in The ISME Journal, March 2009
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About this Attention Score

  • In the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (98th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (95th percentile)

Mentioned by

news
3 news outlets
blogs
5 blogs
policy
2 policy sources
twitter
2 X users
patent
2 patents
facebook
1 Facebook page
wikipedia
5 Wikipedia pages

Citations

dimensions_citation
421 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
624 Mendeley
Title
Skin microbes on frogs prevent morbidity and mortality caused by a lethal skin fungus
Published in
The ISME Journal, March 2009
DOI 10.1038/ismej.2009.27
Pubmed ID
Authors

Reid N Harris, Robert M Brucker, Jenifer B Walke, Matthew H Becker, Christian R Schwantes, Devon C Flaherty, Brianna A Lam, Douglas C Woodhams, Cheryl J Briggs, Vance T Vredenburg, Kevin P C Minbiole

Abstract

Emerging infectious diseases threaten human and wildlife populations. Altered ecological interactions between mutualistic microbes and hosts can result in disease, but an understanding of interactions between host, microbes and disease-causing organisms may lead to management strategies to affect disease outcomes. Many amphibian species in relatively pristine habitats are experiencing dramatic population declines and extinctions due to the skin disease chytridiomycosis, which is caused by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Using a randomized, replicated experiment, we show that adding an antifungal bacterial species, Janthinobacterium lividum, found on several species of amphibians to the skins of the frog Rana muscosa prevented morbidity and mortality caused by the pathogen. The bacterial species produces the anti-chytrid metabolite violacein, which was found in much higher concentrations on frog skins in the treatments where J. lividum was added. Our results show that cutaneous microbes are a part of amphibians' innate immune system, the microbial community structure on frog skins is a determinant of disease outcome and altering microbial interactions on frog skins can prevent a lethal disease outcome. A bioaugmentation strategy may be an effective management tool to control chytridiomycosis in amphibian survival assurance colonies and in nature.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 624 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 18 3%
Colombia 3 <1%
Germany 3 <1%
Brazil 3 <1%
United Kingdom 2 <1%
Denmark 2 <1%
Mexico 2 <1%
Costa Rica 1 <1%
Uruguay 1 <1%
Other 2 <1%
Unknown 587 94%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 126 20%
Student > Bachelor 112 18%
Researcher 98 16%
Student > Master 98 16%
Student > Doctoral Student 32 5%
Other 86 14%
Unknown 72 12%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 344 55%
Environmental Science 63 10%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 58 9%
Immunology and Microbiology 22 4%
Medicine and Dentistry 13 2%
Other 35 6%
Unknown 89 14%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 74. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 March 2023.
All research outputs
#578,297
of 25,457,858 outputs
Outputs from The ISME Journal
#143
of 3,273 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#1,257
of 106,999 outputs
Outputs of similar age from The ISME Journal
#1
of 24 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,457,858 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 97th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,273 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 20.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 106,999 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 24 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.