Bangor University MASTERS by RESEARCH Investigating the Potential Susceptibility of Selected Malagasy Species to the Toxins Prod
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Bangor University MASTERS BY RESEARCH Investigating the potential susceptibility of selected Malagasy species to the toxins produced by Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Asian Common Toad) Marshall, Benjamin Award date: 2018 Awarding institution: Bangor University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 27. Sep. 2021 Investigating the potential susceptibility of selected Malagasy species to the toxins produced by Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Asian Common Toad) Master of Science by Research in Biological Sciences Bangor University Benjamin Michael Marshall 2017 Supervised by Dr. Wolfgang Wüster Investigating the potential susceptibility of selected Malagasy species to the toxins produced by Duttaphrynus melanostictus (Asian Common Toad) Abstract Invasive and introduced species can pose major ecological challenges to vulnerable native wildlife. Biodiversity hotspots, in particular, require protection from this significant cause of species loss. One hotspot, Madagascar, is experiencing the accidental introduction of a potentially ecologically damaging species – the toxin carrying bufonid toad, Duttaphyrnus melanostictus. The presence of these toxic invaders drives fears that if such a species gains a foothold widespread poisoning of Malagasy predators could occur, mirroring the invasion of Australia by Rhinella marina. This includes numerous endemic and endangered species. The mechanism by which the toxin acts upon organisms has been previously identified via the study of toxin resistant versus toxin non-resistant taxa. Specific amino acid substitutions are required on the organism’s Na+/K+–ATPase for them to be resistant to bufonid toxin. This solution to combat the toxin is widely consistent across taxa providing a method to discover and predict toxin resistance or vulnerability. Here I investigate the Na+/K+–ATPase gene to detect vulnerability of a selection of Malagasy fauna to the toxics of Duttaphrynus melanostictus. It is discovered that no tested species on Madagascar have the capacity to survive ingestion of the novel toxin. The vulnerability is found in all examined species, including snakes, frogs, lizards, lemurs and tenrecs. The results suggest that the invasive Duttaphrynus melanostictus is liable to have significant impact on Malagasy fauna. i Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ i Contents .............................................................................................................................. ii List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... iii List of Accompanying Material ......................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... iv Author’s Declaration ........................................................................................................... v Definitions .......................................................................................................................... vi Introduction and Background ............................................................................................ 1 The Cases of Immunity .............................................................................................................. 6 Snakes ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Insects ...................................................................................................................................... 7 Mammals.................................................................................................................................. 7 Varanids ................................................................................................................................... 8 Exceptions................................................................................................................................ 8 Past Invasions ............................................................................................................................ 8 Island Examples ....................................................................................................................... 9 The Australia Situation ........................................................................................................... 10 Madagascar and Invasions ..................................................................................................... 15 Fears and Potential Impacts .................................................................................................. 19 Methods ............................................................................................................................. 24 Results............................................................................................................................... 28 Results of PCR ......................................................................................................................... 28 Sequence Data ......................................................................................................................... 28 Snakes ................................................................................................................................... 29 Lizards .................................................................................................................................... 30 Amphibians ............................................................................................................................ 31 Mammals................................................................................................................................ 32 Isoelectric Point ....................................................................................................................... 32 Literature Search...................................................................................................................... 33 Discussion......................................................................................................................... 36 Herpetofauna ............................................................................................................................ 37 Snakes ................................................................................................................................... 37 Lizards .................................................................................................................................... 42 Amphibians ............................................................................................................................ 45 Chelonians ............................................................................................................................. 48 Crocodiles .............................................................................................................................. 49 Mammals ................................................................................................................................... 50 Carnivora................................................................................................................................ 50 Lemurs ................................................................................................................................... 52 Tenrecs .................................................................................................................................. 53 Implications and Behavioural Adaptations............................................................................. 54 Conclusions ...................................................................................................................... 58 References ........................................................................................................................ 59 Appendix ........................................................................................................................... 97 ii List of Tables Table 1 - Species count and endemism of Madagascar, excluding introductions. Figures from Table 1 in Goodman and Benstead (2005). (Does not include estimations of amphibians from Vieites et al. (2009) and Perl et al. (2014)). ........................................ 2 Table 2 - H1-H2 extracellular