Worldwide recombination in emergent white-nose syndrome pathogen Pseudogymnoascus destructans

Abstract

Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), the emergent fungus causing bat "White-Nose Syndrome", responsible for [~]6 million mortalities in the United States (US), is thought to expand clonally in North America and Europe. Presence of distinct mating-types in Europe led to numerous research attempts searching for population sexuality worldwide. This study not only presents the first evidence of genetic recombination in Pd but also detects recombination in Pd genotype data generated by previous studies in Europe and North America, through clone-corrected linkage disequilibrium analysis. Portuguese and other European populations are apparently reproducing through sex between two mating-types. Seeming parasexual recombination in the invasive single mating-type US population rings alarms for the North American bat populations and deserves urgent attention. This study emphasizes on clone-correction in linkage disequilibrium analysis. One Sentence SummaryClone-correction yielded signs of elusive recombination in the global "clonal" populations of white-nose syndrome pathogen.