The source of the Rough-Skinned Newt's toxin was unclear for many years, but now scientists suspect that the tetrodotoxin is in fact produced by bacteria living on the newt's skin. In 2020, a team of microbiologists analyzed the skin microbiome of Rough-Skinned Newts and were able to isolate four different genera of symbiotic bacteria that were capable of synthesizing tetrodotoxin[1]. However, we still do not yet know how the Rough-Skinned Newt induces the bacteria living on the skin to produce the toxin. This remains to be discovered!

[1] Patric M Vaelli, Kevin R Theis, Janet E Williams, Lauren A O'Connell, James A Foster, Heather L Eisthen (2020) The skin microbiome facilitates adaptive tetrodotoxin production in poisonous newts eLife 9:e53898
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