Co-option of the same ancestral gene family gave rise to mammalian and reptilian toxins.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Evolution can occur with surprising predictability when organisms face similar ecological challenges. For most traits, it is difficult to ascertain whether this occurs due to constraints imposed by the number of possible phenotypic solutions or because of parallel responses by shared genetic and regulatory architecture. Exceptionally, oral venoms are a tractable model of trait evolution, being largely composed of proteinaceous toxins that have evolved in many tetrapods, ranging from reptiles to mammals. Given the diversity of venomous lineages, they are believed to have evolved convergently, even though biochemically similar toxins occur in all taxa.

Results

Here, we investigate whether ancestral genes harbouring similar biochemical activity may have primed venom

SUBMITTER: Barua A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8705180 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature