Sea Anemone Membrane Attack Complex/Perforin Superfamily Demonstrates an Evolutionary Transitional State between Venomous and Developmental Functions.

ABSTRACT: Gene duplication is a major force driving evolutionary innovation. A classic example is generating new animal toxins via duplication of physiological protein-encoding genes and recruitment into venom. While this process drives the innovation of many animal venoms, reverse recruitment of toxins into nonvenomous cells remains unresolved. Using comparative genomics, we find members of the Membrane Attack Complex and Perforin Family (MAC) have been recruited into venom-injecting cells (cnidocytes), in soft and stony corals and sea anemones, suggesting that the ancestral MAC was a cnidocyte expressed toxin. Further investigation into the model sea anemone Nematostella vectensis reveals that three members have undergone Nematostella-specific duplications leading to their reverse recruitment into

SUBMITTER: Surm JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11090067 | biostudies-literature | 2024 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature