Journal of Ecology and Environment

pISSN 2287-8327 eISSN 2288-1220

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Published online January 5, 2021
https://doi.org/10.1186/s41610-020-00179-2

Journal of Ecology and Environment (2021) 45:02

First detection of ranavirus in a wild population of Dybowskiâ

Jaejin Park1, Alejandro Grajal-Puche2, Nam-Ho Roh3, Il-Kook Park4, Nam-Yong Ra5 and Daesik Park4

Department of Regional Innovation, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea; Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, USA; Natural Environmental Restoration Institute Co. Ltd., Daejeon, Republic of Korea; Division of Science Education, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, Republic of Korea; Rana Eco-Consultant, Namyangju, Republic of Korea

Correspondence to:Daesik Park

Received: September 14, 2020; Accepted: December 25, 2020

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Abstract

Background

Ranavirus is an emerging infectious disease which has been linked to mass mortality events in various amphibian species. In this study, we document the first mass mortality event of an adult population of Dybowski’s brown frogs (Rana dybowskii), in 2017, within a mountain valley in South Korea.>

Results

We confirmed the presence of ranavirus from all collected frogs (n = 22) via PCR and obtained the 500 bp major capsid protein (MCP) sequence from 13 individuals. The identified MCP sequence highly resembled Frog virus 3 (FV3) and was the same haplotype of a previously identified viral sequence collected from Huanren brown frog (R. huanrenensis) tadpoles in South Korea. Human habitat alteration, by recent erosion control works, may be partially responsible for this mass mortality event.>

Conclusion

We document the first mass mortality event in a wild Korean population of R. dybowskii. We also suggest, to determine if ranavirus infection is a threat to amphibians, government officials and researchers should develop continuous, country-wide, ranavirus monitoring programs of Korean amphibian populations.

Keywords: Ranavirus; Rana dybowskii ; Mass mortality; Wild population; Major capsid protein

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Journal of Ecology and Environment

pISSN 2287-8327 eISSN 2288-1220