Why some frogs can survive killer fungal disease 為什么一些青蛙能夠從致命的真菌病中死里逃生？

Anna Savage hikes through a Florida swamp looking for frogs. She spots a shiny black critter hopping in the swamp grass. It’s a tiny cricket frog, no bigger than a bug. She’s hunting a killer infection — and the few frogs able to survive it.

Anna Savage徒步穿過佛羅里達州沼澤尋找青蛙。她發(fā)現(xiàn)一直黑瘦的生物在沼澤草叢中跳躍。它是一直瘦小如蟋蟀的青蛙，和蟲子大小差不多。她在尋找致命感染——而且很少有青蛙能死里逃生。

Learning what makes these frogs special could hold a key to managing the fungal scourge.

了解這些青蛙特殊之處的原因市控制真菌根源的關(guān)鍵。

Savage is a frog biologist at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. She catches amphibians like this tiny cricket frog to sample their skin cells. She wants to know which ones host a killer fungus. Huge numbers of frogs have been dying from a skin disease that it causes. But the fungus doesn’t kill off every infected frog. Savage is trying to figure out why. She thinks it might have something to do with the animals’ genes.

Savage是奧蘭多的中佛羅里達大學(xué)的青蛙生物學(xué)家。她抓住了瘦小如蟋蟀的青蛙這種兩棲動物，采取了它們的皮膚細胞標(biāo)本。她想知道是什么抑制了致命真菌。大量青蛙已經(jīng)死于這一真菌引發(fā)的皮膚疾病。但是真菌并未導(dǎo)致所有受感染的青蛙死亡。Savage試圖弄清楚原因。她認為這可能與動物基因有關(guān)。

Amphibians include frogs, toads, salamanders and newts. And overall, notes Savage, “Amphibians are in trouble.” A recent study showed that populations have been shrinking for more than four in every 10 of the world’s amphibian species. Nearly one-third are threatened with extinction. And that could be bad for the environment. These animals are an important part of the food chain. They eat pesky insects, like flies and mosquitoes. Amphibians, in turn, are an important food source for many birds, reptiles and mammals.

兩棲動物包括青蛙、蟾蜍、蜥蜴和蠑螈。總而言之，Savage說“兩棲動物正處于危險之中。”最近的研究表明世界上的兩棲動物的數(shù)量已經(jīng)減少了十分之四多。而且這不利于環(huán)境。這些動物是食物鏈上的重要組成部分。它們吃害蟲，例如蚊子和蒼蠅。反過來，兩棲動物也是許多鳥類、爬行動物和哺乳動物的一種重要食物。

Global loss of wetlands and other critical amphibian habitat may be causing some populations to shrink. A frog disease is causing major declines too. Its source is a single-celled fungus known as chytrid (KIH-trid). Fungal diseases are known as mycoses (My-KO-sees). So this one is called chytridiomycosis (Kih-TRID-ee-oh-my-KO-sis).

全球范圍內(nèi)濕地以及其他重要的兩棲動物棲息地的流失可能會導(dǎo)致兩棲動物數(shù)量銳減。青蛙疾病也導(dǎo)致青蛙數(shù)量驟降。這一疾病的來源市一種單細胞真菌，名叫chytrid (KIH-trid)。真菌疾病被稱為mycoses (My-KO-sees)。所以這一疾病被稱為chytridiomycosis (Kih-TRID-ee-oh-my-KO-sis)。