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Toxin variation among salamander populations: discussing potential causes and future directions
Integrative Zoology ( IF 3.3 ) Pub Date : 2020-09-23 , DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12492
Gilles DE Meester 1 , Emina Šunje 1, 2, 3 , Els Prinsen 4 , Erik Verbruggen 5 , Raoul VAN Damme 1
Affiliation  

Amphibians produce defensive chemicals which provide protection against both predators and infections. Within species, populations can differ considerably in the composition and amount of these chemical defenses. Studying intraspecific variation in toxins and linking it to environmental variables may help us to identify the selective drivers of toxin evolution, such as predation pressure and infection risk. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in the unique toxins produced by salamanders from the genus Salamandra: the samandarines. Despite this attention, intraspecific variation has largely been ignored within Salamandra‐species. The aim of this study was to investigate whether geographic variation in profiles of samandarines exists, by sampling 4 populations of Salamandra atra over its range in the Dinaric Alps. In addition, we preliminary explored whether potential variation could be explained by predation (counting the number of snake species) and infection risk (cultivation and genomic analyses of collected soil samples). Salamanders from the 4 populations differed in toxin composition and in the size of their poison glands, although not in overall toxin quantity. Nor predation nor infection risk could explain this variation, as populations barely differed in these variables. Sampling over a much broader geographic range, using better estimators for predation and infection risk, will contribute to an improved understanding of how environment may shape variation in chemical defenses. Nevertheless, as the 4 populations of S. atra did differ in their toxin profiles, we propose that this species provides an interesting opportunity for further ecological and evolutionary studies on amphibian toxins.

中文翻译:

sal种群中的毒素变化:讨论潜在的原因和未来的方向

两栖动物产生防御性化学物质,可抵御捕食者和感染。在物种内部,这些化学防御物的组成和数量可能存在很大差异。研究毒素的种内变异并将其与环境变量联系起来可能有助于我们识别毒素进化的选择性驱动因素,例如捕食压力和感染风险。最近,出现了从蝾螈属产生的独特的毒素重新产生了兴趣蝾螈:在samandarines。尽管这样的关注,种内变异已经在很大程度上被忽略了内-species。这项研究的目的是通过对4个种群的sampling鱼进行抽样调查,调查是否存在鱼碱分布图的地理差异。萨拉曼德拉(Salamandra)在狄纳里克阿尔卑斯山脉(Dinaric Alps)范围内。此外,我们初步探索了潜在变化是否可以通过捕食(计算蛇的种类)和感染风险(收集的土壤样品的培养和基因组分析)来解释。尽管总体毒素数量没有差别,来自这四个种群的在毒素组成和它们的毒腺大小上有所不同。捕食和感染风险均不能解释这种差异,因为这些变量的种群几乎没有差异。在更广泛的地理范围内进行采样,使用更好的估计值来估计掠食和感染风险,将有助于人们更好地了解环境如何影响化学防御系统的变化。尽管如此,作为S. atra的4个种群 由于它们的毒素谱确实存在差异,我们认为该物种为两栖动物毒素的进一步生态学和进化研究提供了一个有趣的机会。
更新日期:2020-09-23
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