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Chemical Ecology of the North American Newt Genera Taricha and Notophthalmus

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Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products 118

Part of the book series: Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products ((POGRCHEM,volume 118))

Abstract

The North American newt genera Taricha and Notophthalmus (order Caudata) are well known for the combination of potent toxicity, aposematic coloration, and striking defense postures that protects these animals from predation. This suite of traits is centered around the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, which causes paralysis and death in metazoans by disrupting the initiation and propagation of electrical signals in the nerves and muscles. Tetrodotoxin defends newts from predation across multiple life history stages and its role in generating arms-race coevolution between Taricha newts and garter snake (genus Thamnophis) predators is well studied. However, understanding the broader picture of chemical defenses in Taricha and Notophthalmus requires an expanded comprehension of the defensive chemical ecology of tetrodotoxin that includes possible coevolutionary interactions with insect egg predators, protection against parasites, as well as mimicry complexes associated with tetrodotoxin and aposematic coloration in both genera. Herein the authors review what is known about the structure, function, and pharmacology of tetrodotoxin to explore its evolution and chemical ecology in the North American newt. Focus is made specifically on the origin and possible biosynthesis of tetrodotoxin in these taxa as well as providing an expanded picture of the web of interactions that contribute to landscape level patterns of toxicity and defense in Taricha and Notophthalmus.

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Acknowledgments

Sophia Hanifin provided original line illustrations for Fig. 1. Charles T. Hanifin would like to thank E. D. Brodie Jr. for extensive conversations and input associated with this chapter. In addition, he provided all photographs except the one of Ensatina eschscholtzii xanthoptica, which is due to R.W. Van Devender. Work associated with the biochemistry, pharmacology, and analysis of tetrodotoxin was funded (in part) by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) through its KAKENHI Grant-in-Aid for Innovative Area, Frontier Research on Redesigning Biosynthetic Machineries (no. JP19H04636) (to Y.K.). Other support was from a Chemical Communications grant (no. JP17H06406), a grant for Scientific Research (no. JP20H02921), a grant for Exploratory Research (no. JP19K22266), grants-in-aid for Research Activity start-up (JP18H05997 and JP19K21141), and a grant for Young Scientists (JP20K15405) (all to Y.K.). This work was supported also by the Uehara Memorial Foundation (to M.Y.Y.) and the Naito Foundation (to Y.K.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Utah State University, 320 N. Aggie Blvd, Vernal, UT, 84078, USA

    Charles T. Hanifin

  2. Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tohoku University, 468-1 Aramaki-Aza-Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8572, Japan

    Yuta Kudo

  3. Graduate School of Agricultural Science & Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University, 468-1 Aramaki-Aza-Aoba, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8572, Japan

    Mari Yotsu-Yamashita

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Correspondence to Charles T. Hanifin .

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  1. College of Pharmacy, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA

    A. Douglas Kinghorn

  2. Institute of Organic Chemistry, Johannes Kepler University, Linz, Austria

    Heinz Falk

  3. School of Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Simon Gibbons

  4. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokushima Bunri University, Tokushima, Japan

    Yoshinori Asakawa

  5. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan, China

    Ji-Kai Liu

  6. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Wien, Austria

    Verena M. Dirsch

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Hanifin, C.T., Kudo, Y., Yotsu-Yamashita, M. (2022). Chemical Ecology of the North American Newt Genera Taricha and Notophthalmus. In: Kinghorn, A.D., Falk, H., Gibbons, S., Asakawa, Y., Liu, JK., Dirsch, V.M. (eds) Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products 118. Progress in the Chemistry of Organic Natural Products, vol 118. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92030-2_3

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