Certain species of frogs in the genus Phyllobates have a powerful...

Question

Certain species of frogs in the genus Phyllobates have a powerful defensive adaptation—their skin can secrete a milky fluid that contains an extremely toxic compound called batrachotoxin (BTX). These frogs, which are found in Colombia, are known as poison dart frogs because some indigenous Colombian hunters coat the tips of their blowgun darts with the frogs' skin secretions. An animal hit by one of these darts dies quickly. What is the mechanism of action of BTX?

Identify a research technique that could be used to discover how BTX affects specific membrane proteins. Based on the graph in Question 11, what would you expect this technique to show?

Accepted Answer

Hello everyone and welcome to today's video. So B. T. X. Is an extremely potent steroidal alkaloid found in certain species of frogs. B. T. X. Irreversibly binds to a certain channel of nerve cells and prevents them from closing, causing paralysis and death. So here we have this molecule B. T. X. That binds to a channel and prevents it from closing so the channel remains open and this causes paralysis and death. Well in order for the body to become paralyzed, we're going to be needing action potentials to occur constantly. So usually what happens is that we have a summation of nerve impulses resulting in one or a few action potentials. But here we have action potentials occurring constantly which causes paralysis and this is actually going to because or it's going to be due to certain sodium channels being bound by these bt eggs molecule and this is going to prevent them from closing. Remember that sodium channels are the ones that actually de polarize the nerve cell and begin the action potential. So if we have these sodium channels constantly open we're going to have constant action potentials happening and this will result in paralysis. So because of this answer choice c sodium channels is the correct answer. Thank you very much for sticking around until the end of this video. I really hope this helped you

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