Sentences with phrase «venom genes»

The study provides an insight into the biology of the venom in snakes, and allows the understanding of the evolution of venom genes at the genome structural level.

From such studies came the current canonical model of how venom genes evolve through the chance replication and mutation of genes for enzymes, peptides and other proteins.

In the new study, Dr. Yehu Moran at the Hebrew University's Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior and the guest scientist Dr. Kartik Sunagar examined numerous venom genes in different animals in order to unravel the unique evolutionary strategies of toxin gene families.

Based largely on studies of snakes, spiders and other species dangerous to our own, it is thought that most venom genes arise through the mechanism of gene duplication followed by mutation and repurposing (which scientists refer to as neofunctionalization).

Like Wüster, Werren considers the idea that co-option is rare among venom genes to be «one hypothesis that would have to be explored.»

And to date, biologists studying other species have seen venom genes evolve at a breakneck pace: The conotoxins employed by cone snails, for example, are known to mutate rapidly.

In stark contrast to studies of other venomous animals, they found that nearly half of the 53 most recently recruited venom genes uncovered through their genetic analyses were single - copy, meaning they were not duplicates of other genes with which evolution had tinkered.

So she and her colleagues have instead looked for venom genes in the genome of a close Latrodectus relative, the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, which was reported on 31 July in BMC Biology by a team headed by Alistair McGregor of Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom.

What they found surprised them and challenged all of their initial hypotheses: Rattlesnakes have quickly evolved a great variety of differences through the loss of genes, resulting in varying venom gene numbers and types.

One of the snakes had two additional venom genes that the other three lacked, as well as other changes in the complex.

Each rattlesnake lineage has deleted two to four entire venom genes compared to their common ancestor, while retaining the genes for only a subset of venom types.

Further, only two of the original seven full - length venom genes are shared between the Mojave rattlesnake, the Western Diamondback and the Eastern Diamondback.

The lack of change is also very different from what is expected of venom genes.

Armed with the both the king cobra and Burmese python genome the team was able to show that, despite previous hypotheses that venom genes evolve «early» in the lineage leading to snakes, venom gene families do not duplicate early, in fact the study shows that the rapid and extensive expansion of functionally important venom toxin families is restricted to the venomous «advanced» snake lineage.

Many of the cobra's venom genes, for example, seem to have arisen from duplications of genes otherwise used in organs such as stomach, spleen, testes and ovaries.

They and their colleagues started by assembling genomes for several closely related wasp species, and they found something striking: Even close relatives among the wasps shared only about 30 to 40 percent of their venom genes.

That surprisingly low number suggested the evolution of new species was accompanied by rapid turnover of the venom genes, with old genes being abandoned and new ones with novel venom functions suddenly arising.

Dowell and Giorgianni, assisted by Sanchez, examined four Western Diamondback snakes and looked at their venom gene complexes.