  The investigations of the bat White Nose Syndrome (WNS) have yet to provide
answers as to how the causative fungus Pseudogymnoascus (Geomyces) destructans
(Pd) first appeared in the Northeast and how a single clone has spread rapidly
in the US and Canada. We aimed to catalogue Pd and all other fungi (mycobiome)
by the culture-dependent (CD) and culture-independent (CI) methods in four
Mines and two Caves from the epicenter of WNS zoonotic. Six hundred sixty-five
fungal isolates were obtained by CD method including the live recovery of Pd.
Seven hundred three nucleotide sequences that met the definition of operational
taxonomic units (OTUs) were recovered by CI methods. Most OTUs belonged to
unidentified clones deposited in the databases as environmental nucleic acid
sequences (ENAS). The core mycobiome of WNS affected sites comprised of 46
species of fungi from 31 genera recovered in culture, and 17 fungal genera and
31 ENAS identified from clone libraries. Fungi such as Arthroderma spp.,
Geomyces spp., Kernia spp., Mortierella spp., Penicillium spp., and
Verticillium spp. were predominant in culture while Ganoderma spp., Geomyces
spp., Mortierella spp., Penicillium spp. and Trichosporon spp. were abundant is
clone libraries. Alpha diversity analyses from CI data revealed that fungal
community structure was highly diverse. However, the true species diversity
remains undetermined due to under sampling. The frequent recovery of Pd
indicated that the pathogen has adapted to WNS-afflicted habitats. Further,
this study supports the hypothesis that Pd is an introduced species. These
findings underscore the need for integrated WNS control measures that target
both bats and the fungal pathogen.
