Toxin expression in snake venom evolves rapidly with constant shifts in evolutionary rates.

ABSTRACT: Key innovations provide ecological opportunity by enabling access to new resources, colonization of new environments, and are associated with adaptive radiation. The most well-known pattern associated with adaptive radiation is an early burst of phenotypic diversification. Venoms facilitate prey capture and are widely believed to be key innovations leading to adaptive radiation. However, few studies have estimated their evolutionary rate dynamics. Here, we test for patterns of adaptive evolution in venom gene expression data from 52 venomous snake species. By identifying shifts in tempo and mode of evolution along with models of phenotypic evolution, we show that snake venom exhibits the macroevolutionary dynamics expected of key innovations. Namely, all toxin families undergo shifts in th

SUBMITTER: Barua A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7282918 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature