Hologenomics Reveals Specialized Dietary Adaptations in the Mengla Snail-Eating Snake.

ABSTRACT: Serpents, as highly adaptable vertebrates, provide robust models for studying the mechanisms of dietary specialization. Using an integrative multi-omics approach, encompassing host genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, gut metagenomic, and enzymatic analyses, the mechanisms underlying dietary adaptations in the Mengla snail-eating snake (Pareas menglaensis), a species specialized in consuming snails is investigated. Adaptations supporting this diet included evolution of infralabial glands secreting toxin homologs and digestive enzymes, facilitating molluscan predation and digestion. This specialization has driven adaptive evolution in the host genome and shaped the gut microbiota, addressing both nutritional challenges (e.g., lipid deficiency) and digestive requirements (e.g., mucus degradat

SUBMITTER: Yan C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12561409 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature