Data from: Composition of micro-eukaryotes on the skin of the Cascades frog (Rana cascadae) and patterns of correlation between skin microbes and Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

Global amphibian decline linked to fungal pathogens has galvanized
research on applied amphibian conservation. Skin-associated bacterial
communities of amphibians have been shown to mediate fungal skin
infections and the development of probiotic treatments with antifungal
bacteria has become an emergent area of research. While exploring the role
of protective bacteria has been a primary focus for amphibian
conservation, we aim to expand and study the other microbes present in
amphibian skin communities including fungi and other micro-eukaryotes.
Here, we characterize skin-associated bacteria and micro-eukaryotic
diversity found across life stages of Cascades frog (Rana cascadae) and
their associated aquatic environments using culture independent 16S and
18S rRNA marker-gene sequencing. Individuals of various life stages of
Cascades frogs were sampled from a population located in the Trinity Alps
in Northern California during an epidemic of the chytrid fungus,
Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. We filtered the bacterial sequences
against a published database of bacteria known to inhibit B. dendrobatidis
in co-culture to estimate the proportion of the skin bacterial community
that is likely to provide defense against B. dendrobatidis. Tadpoles had a
significantly higher proportion of B. dendrobatidis-inhibitory bacterial
sequence matches relative to subadult and adult Cascades frogs. We applied
a network analysis to examine patterns of correlation between bacterial
taxa and B. dendrobatidis, as well as micro-eukaryotic taxa and B.
dendrobatidis. Combined with the published database of bacteria known to
inhibit B. dendrobatidis, we used the network analysis to identify
bacteria that negatively correlated with B. dendrobatidis and thus could
be good probiotic candidates in the Cascades frog system.