Experimental vaccination and infection of eastern hellbender salamanders with Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

In this study, we explored the efficacy of Bd vaccination on hellbender salamanders and functionally characterized host, host-associated microbiome, and pathogen throughout immunization and infection. We compared the function of hellbender skin, the skin microbiome, and Bd with a metatranscriptome approach at four experimental time points, (i) pre-vaccination and pre-infection, (ii) post-vaccination and pre-infection, (iii) early infection, and (iv) late infection.