Ecological functions of tetrodotoxin in a deadly polyclad flatworm

• Raphael Ritson-Williams

  *Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, 701 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, FL 34949; and

• Mari Yotsu-Yamashita

  Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, Tsutsumidori-Amamiyamachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 981-8555, Japan

• Valerie J. Paul

  *Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, 701 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, FL 34949; and

抄録

The deadly neurotoxin tetrodotoxin (TTX) is found in a variety of animal phyla and, because of its toxicity, is most often assumed to deter predation. On the tropical Pacific island of Guam, we found an undescribed flatworm (planocerid sp. 1) that contains high levels of TTX and its analogs. Through ecological experiments, we show that TTXs do not protect these flatworms from some predators but instead are used to capture mobile prey. TTX is known to have multiple ecological functions, which has probably led to its widespread presence among prokaryotes and at least 10 metazoan phyla.

収録刊行物

• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (9), 3176-3179, 2006-02-21

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

キーワード

• Multidisciplinary

詳細情報

• CRID: 1361699993443777024
• NII論文ID: 30016243636
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0506093103
• ISSN: 10916490
• ISSN: 00278424
• Web Site: https://pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.0506093103
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