Mechanisms of Adaptation in a Predator-Prey Arms Race: TTX-Resistant Sodium Channels

2002/08/23 by Shana L. Geffeney, Peter C. Ruben, Edmund D. Brodie · 9 citations
Chemistry · Environmental Science · Neuroscience · #Adaptation (eye) #Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies #Arms race #Biology #Biophysics #Chemistry #Coevolution #Ecology #Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology #Evolutionary biology #Gene #Genetics #Local adaptation #Marine Toxins and Detection Methods #Neuroscience #Phylogenetic tree #Population #Predation #Predator #Sodium #Sodium channel #Tetrodotoxin #Thamnophis sirtalis #Vertebrate #Zoology

paper · doi:10.1126/science.1074310

openalex publication_date 2002/08/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Populations of the garter snake Thamnophis sirtalis have evolved geographically variable resistance to tetrodotoxin (TTX) in a coevolutionary arms race with their toxic prey, newts of the genus Taricha. Here, we identify a physiological mechanism, the expression of TTX-resistant sodium channels in skeletal muscle, responsible for adaptive diversification in whole-animal resistance. Both individual and population differences in the ability of skeletal muscle fibers to function in the presence of TTX correlate closely with whole-animal measures of TTX resistance. Demonstration of individual variation in an essential physiological function responsible for the adaptive differences among populations is a step toward linking the selective consequences of coevolutionary interactions to geographic and phylogenetic patterns of diversity.

Citations

• Morphology, Performance and Fitness
• Toxicity of Dangerous Prey: Variation of Tetrodotoxin Levels Within and Among Populations of the Newt Taricha granulosa
• Investigations on the Skin Toxin of the Adult Rough-Skinned Newt, Taricha granulosa
• Tarichatoxin—Tetrodotoxin: A Potent Neurotoxin
• Predator-Prey Arms Races
• Evolutionary Physiology

Cited by

• THE EVOLUTIONARY RESPONSE OF PREDATORS TO DANGEROUS PREY: HOTSPOTS AND COLDSPOTS IN THE GEOGRAPHIC MOSAIC OF COEVOLUTION BETWEEN GARTER SNAKES AND NEWTS
• Community Ecology and the Evolution of Molecules of Keystone Significance
• Constraint shapes convergence in tetrodotoxin-resistant sodium channels of snakes
• Toxin-Resistant Sodium Channels: Parallel Adaptive Evolution across a Complete Gene Family
• No evidence for an endosymbiotic bacterial origin of tetrodotoxin in the newt Taricha granulosa
• Sequestered defensive toxins in tetrapod vertebrates: principles, patterns, and prospects for future studies
• The effect of predator appetite, prey warning coloration and luminance on predator foraging decisions
• The complex business of survival by aposematism
• Diversity in warning coloration: selective paradox or the norm?
• Evolution [wikipedia]