Pseudogymnoascus destructans is an ascomycetous fungus responsible for the disease dubbed white-nose syndrome (WNS) and massive mortalities of cave-dwelling bats. The fungus infects bat epidermal tissue, causing damage to integumentary cells and pilosebaceous units. Differences in epidermal lipid composition caused by P. destructans infection could have drastic consequences for a variety of physiological functions, including innate immune efficiency and water retention. While bat surface lipid and stratum corneum lipid composition have been described, the differences in epidermal lipid content between healthy tissue and P. destructans–infected tissue have not been documented. In this study, we analyzed the effect of wing damage from P. destructans infection on the epidermal polar lipid composition (glycerophospholipids [GPs] and sphingomyelin) of little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus). We hypothesized that infection would lead to lower levels of total lipid or higher oxidized lipid product proportions. Polar lipids from three damaged and three healthy wing samples were profiled by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry. We found lower total broad lipid levels in damaged tissue, specifically etherlinked phospholipids, lysophospholipids, phosphatidylcholine, and phosphatidylethanolamine. Thirteen individual GP species from four broad GP classes were present in higher amounts in healthy tissue. Six unsaturated GP species were absent in damaged tissue. Our results confirm that P. destructans infection leads to altered lipid profiles. Clinical signs of WNS may include lower lipid levels and lower proportions of unsaturated lipids due to cellular and glandular damage."This project was funded by an Arkansas State Wildlife Grant, the National Speleological Society, the Graduate Program of Environmental Science at Arkansas State University (ASU), the US Fish and Wildlife Service, a Government of Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship (PDRF), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC; Canada), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), and the Center for North American Bat Research and Conservation at Indiana State University. Instrument acquisition and method development at KLRC was supported by NSF grants MCB 0455318, MCB 0920663, and DBI 0521587; Kansas Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE; National Institutes of Health grant P20 RR16475 from the INBRE program of the National Center for Research Resources); National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research grant EPS-0236913; Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation; and Kansas State University."https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/68193
