Venom Gene Sequence Diversity and Expression Jointly Shape Diet Adaptation in Pitvipers.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the joint roles of protein sequence variation and differential expression during adaptive evolution is a fundamental, yet largely unrealized goal of evolutionary biology. Here, we use phylogenetic path analysis to analyze a comprehensive venom-gland transcriptome dataset spanning three genera of pitvipers to identify the functional genetic basis of a key adaptation (venom complexity) linked to diet breadth (DB). The analysis of gene-family-specific patterns reveals that, for genes encoding two of the most important venom proteins (snake venom metalloproteases and snake venom serine proteases), there are direct, positive relationships between sequence diversity (SD), expression diversity (ED), and increased DB. Further analysis of gene-family diversification for these proteins

SUBMITTER: Mason AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9040050 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature