Molecular genetics of ecological diversification: Duplication and rapid evolution of toxin genes of the venomous gastropod Conus
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TLDR
It is shown that conotoxins with little amino acid similarity are in fact products of recently diverged loci that are rapidly evolving by strong positive selection in the vermivorous cone, Conus abbreviatus, and that the rate of conotoxin evolution is higher than that of most other known proteins.Abstract:
Predatory snails in the marine gastropod genus Conus stun prey by injecting a complex mixture of peptide neurotoxins. These conotoxins are associated with trophic diversification and block a diverse array of ion channels and neuronal receptors in prey species, but the evolutionary genesis of this functional diversity is unknown. Here we show that conotoxins with little amino acid similarity are in fact products of recently diverged loci that are rapidly evolving by strong positive selection in the vermivorous cone, Conus abbreviatus, and that the rate of conotoxin evolution is higher than that of most other known proteins. Gene duplication and diversifying selection result in the formation of functionally variable conotoxins that are linked to ecological diversification and evolutionary success of this genus.read more
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Peptide neurotoxins from fish-hunting cone snails
Baldomero M. Olivera,William R. Gray,R Zeikus,J M McIntosh,J Varga,Jean Rivier,V de Santos,Lourdes J. Cruz +7 more
TL;DR: Five new omega-conotoxins that block presynaptic calcium channels are described, and the fact that they inhibit sequential steps in neuromuscular transmission suggests that their action is synergistic rather than additive.