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- Title
Mechanisms of adaptation in a predator-prey arms race: TTX-resistant sodium channels.
- Authors
Geffeney, Shana; Brodie, Edmund D, Jr; Ruben, Peter C; Brodie, Edmund D, 3rd
- 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.
- Publication
Science (New York, N.Y.), 2002, Vol 297, Issue 5585, p1336
- ISSN
1095-9203
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1126/science.1074310