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Boric acid is a vital micronutrient in animals; however, excess amounts are toxic to them. Little is known about whole-body boric acid homeostasis in animals. Seawater (SW) contains 0.4 mM boric acid, and since marine fish drink SW, their urinary system was used here as a model of the boric acid excretion system. We determined that the bladder urine of a euryhaline pufferfish (river pufferfish, Takifugu obscurus) acclimated to fresh water and SW contained 0.020 and 19 mM of boric acid, respectively (a 950-fold difference), indicating the presence of a powerful excretory renal system for boric acid. Slc4a11 is a potential animal homolog of the plant boron transporter BOR1; however, mammalian Slc4a11 mediates H |
