An in-depth investigation on the inhibitory activity of a native cave fungus against Pseudogymnoascus destructans

Abstract

A metabolite-based treatment for <i>Pseudogymnoascus destructans</i>, the causative agent of bat White-nose syndrome, was isolated from a soil fungus native to Eastern Canada. Three application methods were modelled using media-based assays to determine how the treatment could be applied <i>in situ</i>: an environmentally-applied prophylactic, a topically applied prophylactic, and a topical post-infection treatment. <i>P. destructans</i> growth was effectively slowed in all three models.<br> After separation and characterisation, an active molecule in the metabolite-based treatment was determined to be griseofulvin, a known antifungal compound. This compound was tested against <i>P. destructans</i> using the topically-applied prophylactic method and proved to be more potent than the crude metabolite mixture.<br> To identify the mechanism of action of the metabolite-based treatment, transcriptome analysis was performed on control and treated groups of the target fungus <i>P. destructans</i> and a non-target Pseudogymnoascus species. To date, transcript reads were aligned and quantified. Further differential expression analysis must be completed.