Cane toad toxin resistance

 

Engineering cane toad toxin resistance

Since its introduction in the 1930s, the cane toad has had a devastating impact on populations of native Australian species in northern Australia, especially predatory species that succumb to the toad’s deadly toxin. Species in other continents that have evolved over millions of years to successfully prey on bufonid toads are naturally resistant to bufotoxins, due largely to small differences in genes encoding the alpha subunit of Na/K-ATPase. The Frankenberg Lab aims to demonstrate the application of CRISPR technology for introducing bufotoxin-resistance modification to ATPase genes to endangered species such as the northern quoll to safeguard their future.