Andrea Gargas Jeffrey M. Lorch Mark T. Banik Jessie Glaeser Thomas H. Kunz David S. Blehert Daniel L. Lindner 2011 <p>White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging disease causing unprecedented morbidity and mortality among bats in eastern North America. The disease is characterized by cutaneous infection of hibernating bats by the psychrophilic fungus <i>Geomyces destructans</i>. Detection of <i>G. destructans</i> in environments occupied by bats will be critical for WNS surveillance, management and characterization of the fungal lifecycle. We initiated an rRNA gene region-based molecular survey to characterize the distribution of <i>G. destructans</i> in soil samples collected from bat hibernacula in the eastern United States with an existing PCR test. Although this test did not specifically detect <i>G. destructans</i> in soil samples based on a presence/absence metric, it did favor amplification of DNA from putative <i>Geomyces</i> species. Cloning and sequencing of PCR products amplified from 24 soil samples revealed 74 unique sequence variants representing 12 clades. Clones with exact sequence matches to <i>G. destructans</i> were identified in three of 19 soil samples from hibernacula in states where WNS is known to occur. <i>Geomyces destructans</i> was not identified in an additional five samples collected outside the region where WNS has been documented. This study highlights the diversity of putative <i>Geomyces</i> spp. in soil from bat hibernacula and indicates that further research is needed to better define the taxonomy of this genus and to develop enhanced diagnostic tests for rapid and specific detection of <i>G. destructans</i> in environmental samples.</p> application/pdf 10.3852/10-262 en Mycological Society of America DNA-based detection of the fungal pathogen <i>Geomyces destructans</i> in soil from bat hibernacula article