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[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249904.].

Two aquatic invasive alien rodents, the coypu (Myocastor coypus) and muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), have taken over a significant amount of wetlands in France. Pays de la Loire is an administrative region of about 32 000 km2 in the Western France with 6.3% of its area in wetlands (excluding the Loire River). Populations of coypus and muskrats are established and a permanent control programme has been set to reduce their impacts. The control plan is based on few professional trappers and many volunteers which makes this programme unique compared to other programme relying on professionals only. The aim of this study is to analyse the temporal and spatial dynamics of coypu and muskrat captures during the last 10 years to evaluate their effectiveness. The number of rodents removed per year increased by 50% in 10 years and reached about 288 000 individuals in 2016 with about 80% of them being coypus. During the same time length, the number of trappers involved in the programme also increased by 50% to reach 3 000 people in 2016. Although the raise of coypus and muskrats trapped can possibly be explained by an increase of the number of trappers, the number of coypus removed per trapper per year increased by 22%. Despite the outstanding number of individuals removed per year, our results suggest that the programme does not limit the population dynamics of coypus. Finally, since 2017, the number of data gathered from municipalities decreased, as did the total number of individuals trapped. Indeed, although rewards are crucial to recruit new volunteers, subsidies from local and regional authorities are declining. Decision makers and financers should be encouraged to fund this programme from the perspectives of the direct or indirect costs related to the presence of aquatic invasive alien rodents in wetlands.

BACKGROUND: In the fungal pathogen Candida albicans, amino acid substitutions of 14alpha-demethylase (CaErg11p, CaCYP51) are associated with azole antifungals resistance. This is an area of research which is very dynamic, since the stakes concern the screening of new antifungals which circumvent resistance. The impact of amino acid substitutions on azole interaction has been postulated by homology modeling in comparison to the crystal structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MT-CYP51). Modeling of amino acid residues situated between positions 428 to 459 remains difficult to explain to date, because they are in a major insertion loop specifically present in fungal species. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING: Fluconazole resistance of clinical isolates displaying Y447H and V456I novel CaErg11p substitutions confirmed in vivo in a murine model of disseminated candidiasis. Y447H and V456I implication into fluconazole resistance was then studied by site-directed mutagenesis of wild-type CaErg11p and by heterogeneously expression into the Pichia pastoris model. CLSI modified tests showed that V447H and V456I are responsible for an 8-fold increase in fluconazole MICs of P. pastoris mutants compared to the wild-type controls. Moreover, mutants showed a sustained capacity for producing ergosterol, even in the presence of fluconazole. Based on these biological results, we are the first to propose a hybrid homology structure-function model of Ca-CYP51 using 3 different homology modeling programs. The variable position of the protein insertion loop, using different liganded or non-liganded templates of recently solved CYP51 structures, suggests its inherent flexibility. Mapping of recognized azole-resistant substitutions indicated that the flexibility of this region is probably enhanced by the relatively high glycine content of the consensus. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The results highlight the potential role of the insertion loop in azole resistance in the human pathogen C. albicans. This new data should be taken into consideration for future studies aimed at designing new antifungal agents, which circumvent azole resistance.