Gene Conversion Facilitates the Adaptive Evolution of Self-Resistance in Highly Toxic Newts.

ABSTRACT: Reconstructing the histories of complex adaptations and identifying the evolutionary mechanisms underlying their origins are two of the primary goals of evolutionary biology. Taricha newts, which contain high concentrations of the deadly toxin tetrodotoxin (TTX) as an antipredator defense, have evolved resistance to self-intoxication, which is a complex adaptation requiring changes in six paralogs of the voltage-gated sodium channel (Nav) gene family, the physiological target of TTX. Here, we reconstruct the origins of TTX self-resistance by sequencing the entire Nav gene family in newts and related salamanders. We show that moderate TTX resistance evolved early in the salamander lineage in three of the six Nav paralogs, preceding the proposed appearance of tetrodotoxic newts by ∼100 My. T

SUBMITTER: Gendreau KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8476164 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature