Quantitative Insights into the Contribution of Nematocysts to the Adaptive Success of Cnidarians Based on Proteomic Analysis.

ABSTRACT: Nematocysts are secretory organelles in cnidarians that play important roles in predation, defense, locomotion, and host invasion. However, the extent to which nematocysts contribute to adaptation and the mechanisms underlying nematocyst evolution are unclear. Here, we investigated the role of the nematocyst in cnidarian evolution based on eight nematocyst proteomes and 110 cnidarian transcriptomes/genomes. We detected extensive species-specific adaptive mutations in nematocyst proteins (NEMs) and evidence for decentralized evolution, in which most evolutionary events involved non-core NEMs, reflecting the rapid diversification of NEMs in cnidarians. Moreover, there was a 33-55 million year macroevolutionary lag between nematocyst evolution and the main phases of cnidarian diversification,

SUBMITTER: Guo Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8773148 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature