An Endogenous Bile Acid and Dietary Sucrose from Skin Secretions of Alkaloid-Sequestering Poison Frogs

Valerie C. Clark*†, Liva Harinantenaina‡, Martin Zeller§, William Ronto, James Rocca, Aaron T. Dossey, Daniel Rakotondravony, David G. I. Kingston‡, and Chris Shaw†

^† School of Pharmacy, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland, U.K.

^‡ Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, United States

^§ Thermo Fisher Scientific, 28199 Bremen, Germany

Department of Animal Biology, University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar

AMRIS Facility, McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32610, United States

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32607, United States

J. Nat. Prod., Article ASAP

DOI: 10.1021/np200963r

Publication Date (Web): January 30, 2012

The skins of Madagascar poison frogs (Mantella) and certain Neotropical poison frogs (Epipedobates, Dendrobates) secrete the new bile acid tauromantellic acid (1), which was found in both wild-caught and captive-born frogs. This is the first molecule of endogenous origin detected in skin secretions from these taxa. Sucrose was also detected in secretions from wild-caught Mantella but not in captive-born frogs, suggesting a dietary origin.

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