Department of Biology, Hanover College, P.O. Box 108, Hanover, IN 47243, USA.
J Chem Ecol. 2012 Nov;38(11):1351-7. doi: 10.1007/s10886-012-0213-8. Epub 2012 Nov 14.
Caddisfly larvae (Limnophilus spp.) are important predators of eggs of the rough-skinned newt (Taricha granulosa). Newts may possess extremely large quantities of the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin (TTX) in their skin, and females may provision this toxin in their eggs. Using a competitive inhibition enzymatic immunoassay, we examined TTX-resistant caddisflies, sympatric with the known most toxic population of newts, for the presence of TTX. We found that caddisflies sequester TTX after consuming eggs in the laboratory. Caddisfly larvae that were frozen immediately after collecting in the wild possessed TTX. Finally, wild-caught larvae reared on a TTX-free diet in the laboratory retained TTX for up to 134 days, through metamorphosis and into the adult stage.
石蛾幼虫（Limnophilus 属）是粗糙皮肤蝾螈（Taricha granulosa）卵的重要捕食者。蝾螈的皮肤中可能含有大量的神经毒素河豚毒素（TTX），而且雌性蝾螈可能会在其卵中提供这种毒素。我们使用竞争性抑制酶联免疫吸附测定法，检查了与已知毒性最强的蝾螈种群共存的抗 TTX 石蛾幼虫是否存在 TTX。我们发现，石蛾幼虫在实验室中食用卵后会摄取 TTX。在野外采集后立即冷冻的石蛾幼虫体内含有 TTX。最后，在实验室中用不含 TTX 的饮食饲养的野生幼虫，在 134 天的时间里，通过变态和进入成虫阶段，仍然保留了 TTX。
