Tf. Duda et Sr. Palumbi, Molecular genetics of ecological diversification: Duplication and rapid evolution of toxin genes of the venomous gastropod Conus, P NAS US, 96(12), 1999, pp. 6820-6823
Citations number
38
Categorie Soggetti
Multidisciplinary
Journal title
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
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 fu
nctional diversity is unknown. Here we show that conotoxins with little ami
no acid similarity are in fact products of recently diverged loci that are
rapidly evolving by strong positive selection in the vermivorous cone, Conu
s 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.