Studies of skin bacterial communities diversity on frogs

The Qinling Mountains are the natural demarcation line between northern and southern China. These mountains are important biodiversity hotspots but have seen a recent sharp decline in the amphibian population. The most evident causes include climate change and habitat destruction, but pathogen infection has not been ruled out. Interestingly, no Bd- or Bsal-infected amphibians have been reported to date. However, no studies have investigated amphibian cutaneous bacterial community assemblages and structures in the Qinling Mountains, meaning we cannot conclude whether the lack of infection is due to superior anti-pathogen protection on amphibian skin or an absence of pathogens in the region.To address these knowledge gaps, our study focused on two questions. First, what happens to amphibian cutaneous bacterial communities in response to seasonal variation and host species differences? Second, do any resultant fluctuations in microbial communities influence their protective function against pathogens such as Bd? We obtained data from two common aquatic anuran species in the Qinling Mountains, Pelophylax nigromaculatus and Nanorana quadranus. We sampled their skin bacterial community diversity and structure across seasons and used bioinformatics to determine whether amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) from cutaneous microbes exhibited anti-Bd properties. Our findings should help elucidate the cutaneous microbial ecology of frogs from the Qinling Mountains. The data can potentially be applied to other amphibians, contributing to their local protection and ecological security.