Three-fingered RAVERs: Rapid Accumulation of Variations in Exposed Residues of snake venom toxins.

ABSTRACT: Three-finger toxins (3FTx) represent one of the most abundantly secreted and potently toxic components of colubrid (Colubridae), elapid (Elapidae) and psammophid (Psammophiinae subfamily of the Lamprophidae) snake venom arsenal. Despite their conserved structural similarity, they perform a diversity of biological functions. Although they are theorised to undergo adaptive evolution, the underlying diversification mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we report the molecular evolution of different 3FTx functional forms and show that positively selected point mutations have driven the rapid evolution and diversification of 3FTx. These diversification events not only correlate with the evolution of advanced venom delivery systems (VDS) in Caenophidia, but in particular the explosive diversification

SUBMITTER: Sunagar K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3847720 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature