Chemical and Etiological Studies on Tetrodotoxin and Its Analogs

Abstract

The marked fluctuation of tetrodotoxin (TTX) contents in pufferfish led us to suspect the exogenous origin of the toxin. Based on a food chain hypothesis, various marine biota were tested for TTX with a fluorometric tetrodotoxin analyzer. Consequently, bacteria were found to be the genetic origin of TT. The survey also revealed the occurrence of new TTX analogs in pufferfish, newts and a frog. Those analogs were isolated and their chemical structures were determined. The analogs provided valuable information on biosynthetic as well as metabolic pathways of TTX and on structure-activity relationship.