Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes produce proteins that are crucial in fighting pathogen assault. Researchers from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow and from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) characterized genetic variation and detected more than one MHC class II locus in a tailed amphibian.

Animals are poisonous to prevent other animals from eating them. However, a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLoS Biology investigating the toxic rough-skinned newt finds that, despite being among the most poisonous known animals, in some regions these newts have no effect on their main predator, the garter snake, as these slippery serpents have evolved resistance to a poison so strong that one-newtsworth can kill thousands of mice.