Regionality and Temporal Dynamics of Sequestration and Relocation of Cardenolides in the Monarch Butterfly, Danaus plexippus.

ABSTRACT: The adaptation of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) to milkweed plants and their ability to sequester toxic cardenolides is a model system for plant-herbivore coevolution. However, the physiological mechanisms underlying cardenolide sequestration and its temporal dynamics remain largely unknown. Here, we show that the polar cardenolide ouabain passes through the isolated midgut epithelium of D. plexippus in vitro and is also absorbed into the body cavity of monarch caterpillars. Remarkably, the same pattern was observed in caterpillars of the related, but non-sequestering milkweed butterfly Euploea core, and even in the non-adapted Solanaceae specialist Manduca sexta, although uptake across gut epithelia occurred at a lower rate. Furthermore, we demonstrated that cardenolides begin to

SUBMITTER: Betz A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11794346 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature