Many Options, Few Solutions: Over 60 My Snakes Converged on a Few Optimal Venom Formulations.

ABSTRACT: Gene expression changes contribute to complex trait variations in both individuals and populations. However, the evolution of gene expression underlying complex traits over macroevolutionary timescales remains poorly understood. Snake venoms are proteinaceous cocktails where the expression of each toxin can be quantified and mapped to a distinct genomic locus and traced for millions of years. Using a phylogenetic generalized linear mixed model, we analyzed expression data of toxin genes from 52 snake species spanning the 3 venomous snake families and estimated phylogenetic covariance, which acts as a measure of evolutionary constraint. We find that evolution of toxin combinations is not constrained. However, although all combinations are in principle possible, the actual dimensionality of

SUBMITTER: Barua A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6736290 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature