The Evolution of Garter Snake Toxin Resistance

New research into newt toxin resistance in garter snakes explores the DNA of the snakes’ sodium channels: while western garter snakes have evolved TTX resistance in their muscle channels, all garter snakes, even eastern snakes who encounter newts far less toxic, have evolved resistance in their nerve channels, which suggests that those channels evolved first, and that garter snakes have been eating newts for a long time. Article.

Gartersnake.info has linked to a lot of previous research on garter snakes’ resistance to newt toxins: