Meeting Abstract
Defensive toxins are found in a plethora of vertebrate and invertebrate taxa, and have played a large role in the diversification and co-evolution of many taxa. Within the amphibian world there are a number of taxa that exhibit defensive toxins as part of their natural history. Bufonids, or “true toads,” are a group of organisms that have gone relatively understudied in terms of their defensive toxins, which are secreted through the parotoid gland on the back of their head. Here we utilize RNA-Seq techniques to characterize and evaluate the bufonid parotoid gland transcriptome. We aimed to identify candidate genes that are involved in the synthesis of toxin peptides and metabolites, identify if any of these genes are different between species of bufoids found in North America, identify if any of these genes are under selection, and identify peptides or metabolites that may play a role in the delivery of the toxins into the prey.
