ORLANDO, Fla. — A research breakthrough at the University of Central Florida hopes to save endangered from a disease once expected to wipe them out.
The Ranavirus is often called the Ebola of frogs because it affects them in much the same way as the Ebola virus affects humans—but faster.
The UCF study unveiled a major genetic component of how the virus functions that researchers believe could save the frogs from the virus.
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Sloshing through the swamp of a field site, UCF herpetologists find a rare site—the tadpole of a southern leopard frog.
It’s one Florida species susceptible to the Ranavirus.
An essential part of the food chain, frogs help control diseases by eating insects that carry diseases that infect humans.
“It’s really urgent to find out what are the drivers behind these emerging diseases in amphibians and frogs in particular,” said Dr. Anna Savage, a biologist.
Savage led the UCF study that included the Smithsonian and the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, which first examined wood frogs in Maryland that were experiencing a mass die-off from the Ranavirus.
The study linked frog survival to genetic variations that make them less susceptible to the disease.
“Now we know they’re also important for Ranavirus, which is a major player and so we can use this same gene target to really try to breed for resistance,” said Savage.
“It’s really important to understand kind of what’s allowing that success or that failure, so we know when planning for the future, which species are really at risk,” she added.
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