Activation of the Bile Acid Pathway and No Observed Antimicrobial Peptide Sequences in the Skin of a Poison Frog.

ABSTRACT: The skin secretions of many frogs have genetically-encoded, endogenous antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). Other species, especially aposematic poison frogs, secrete exogenously derived alkaloids that serve as potent defense molecules. The origins of these defense systems are not clear, but a novel bile-acid derived metabolite, tauromantellic acid, was recently discovered and shown to be endogenous in poison frogs (Mantella, Dendrobates, and Epipedobates). These observations raise questions about the evolutionary history of AMP genetic elements, the mechanism and function of tauromatellic acid production, and links between these systems. To understand the diversity and expression of AMPs among frogs, we assembled skin transcriptomes of 13 species across the anuran phylogeny

SUBMITTER: Civitello ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6385980 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature