How poison frogs may turn their food into skin poison
Poison frogs do not make their own toxins. They eat toxic insects and store the poison in their skin. Scientists found extra copies of certain genes, plus genes switched on more strongly, that may help move the poison safely through the body.
Why it matters
Poison frogs eat toxic prey and keep the poison to fend off predators, without hurting themselves. Learning how their bodies carry and store these chemicals could one day help us understand how living things handle harmful molecules in general. This is early, exploratory work that points to likely genes, not proof of how the system works. It studied frogs, so the details are specific to them.
Who's behind it: J. L. Coleman and colleagues, University of Texas at Austin and collaborators.
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