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Wax Ester Analysis of Bats Suffering from White Nose Syndrome in Europe

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Lipids

Abstract

The composition of wax esters (WE) in the fur of adult greater mouse–eared bats (Myotis myotis), either healthy or suffering from white nose syndrome (WNS) caused by the psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans, was investigated by high-resolution mass spectrometry analysis in the positive ion mode. Profiling of lipid classes showed that WE are the most abundant lipid class, followed by cholesterol esters, and other lipid classes, e.g., triacylglycerols and phospholipids. WE abundance in non-polar lipids was gender-related, being higher in males than in females; in individuals suffering from WNS, both male and female, it was higher than in healthy counterparts. WE were dominated by species containing 18:1 fatty acids. Fatty alcohols were fully saturated, dominated by species containing 24, 25, or 26 carbon atoms. Two WE species, 18:1/18:0 and 18:1/20:0, were more abundant in healthy bats than in infected ones.

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Abbreviations

APCI:

Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization

APCI-MS/MS:

Atmospheric pressure chemical ionization-tandem MS

APPI:

Atmospheric pressure photoionization

CE:

Cholesterol esters

CID:

Collision-induced dissociation

DB:

Double bond

ESI:

Electrospray ionization

FA:

Fatty acids

FAl:

Fatty alcohols

FT:

Fourier transformation

H-ESI:

Heated ESI

HPLC/APCI/MS:

High-performance liquid chromatography with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry

FIA:

Flow injection analysis

MALDI:

Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization

MRM:

Multiple reaction monitoring

PCR:

Polymerase chain reaction

PCA:

Principal component analysis

MS2 :

Tandem MS

ANOVA:

Two-way analysis of variance

WE:

Wax esters

WNS:

White-nose syndrome

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Acknowledgments

The research was supported by the Czech Science Foundation (Project P506/12/1064) and by the Institutional Research Concept RVO61388971.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Vídeňská 1083, 142 20, Prague 4, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Řezanka, Alena Nováková & Karel Sigler

  2. Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry, Institute of Chemical Technology Prague, Technická 5, 166 28, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Ivan Viden

  3. Department of Ecology and Diseases of Game, Fish and Bees, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Palackého 1/3, 612 42, Brno, Czech Republic

    Hana Bandouchová

Authors
  1. Tomáš Řezanka
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  2. Ivan Viden
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  3. Alena Nováková
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  4. Hana Bandouchová
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  5. Karel Sigler
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Correspondence to Tomáš Řezanka.

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Řezanka, T., Viden, I., Nováková, A. et al. Wax Ester Analysis of Bats Suffering from White Nose Syndrome in Europe. Lipids 50, 633–645 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11745-015-4027-7

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