Zootoxins evolved through gene duplication and recruitment
Multiple studies on venom evolution confirm that zootoxins typically arise through gene duplication events followed by the recruitment and neofunctionalization of the resulting gene copies into venom glands.
The claim is specific, falsifiable, and directly addressed by multiple retrieved papers investigating venom evolution across taxa (snakes, sea anemones, vipers). The papers consistently support the classic model that zootoxins evolve via gene duplication and subsequent recruitment/neofunctionalization (sometimes refining details to include subfunctionalization or expression shifts, but still relying on duplication as the foundational mechanism).
A. Hargreaves, M. Swain, M. Hegarty, D. Logan, J. Mulley. Restriction and Recruitment—Gene Duplication and the Origin and Evolution of Snake Venom Toxins. 2014. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evu166
Paper [0] discusses how snake venom toxins originated and diversified through gene duplication and subsequent recruitment, though refines the mechanism to include subfunctionalization of salivary proteins.
See more details
Maria Y. Sachkova, M. Landau, Joachim M. Surm, J. Macrander, S. A. Singer, A. Reitzel, Yehu Moran. Toxin-like neuropeptides in the sea anemone Nematostella unravel recruitment from the nervous system to venom. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.05.28.121442
Paper [2] demonstrates that sea anemone toxins evolved through the duplication of a neuropeptide gene followed by the recruitment of one copy into the venom system.
Drew R. Schield, B. Perry, Richard H. Adams, M. Holding, Zachary L. Nikolakis, Siddharth S. Gopalan, Cara F. Smith, J. Parker, J. Meik, Michael Degiorgio, S. Mackessy, T. Castoe. The roles of balancing selection and recombination in the evolution of rattlesnake venom. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01829-5
Paper [5] reiterates that the origin of snake venom involved the duplication and recruitment of non-venom genes into venom systems.
I. Koludarov, Tobias Senoner, Timothy N. W. Jackson, D. Dashevsky, M. Heinzinger, S. Aird, B. Rost. Domain loss enabled evolution of novel functions in the snake three-finger toxin gene superfamily. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-40550-0
Paper [7] explains how duplicate gene accumulation in the snake three-finger toxin family facilitated extensive neofunctionalization.
Myers EA, Strickland JL, Rautsaw RM, Mason AJ, Schramer TD, Nystrom GS, Hogan MP, Yooseph S, Rokyta DR, Parkinson CL. De Novo Genome Assembly Highlights the Role of Lineage-Specific Gene Duplications in the Evolution of Venom in Fea's Viper (Azemiops feae).. 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/gbe/evac082
Paper [10] shows that viper venom proteins are expressed by genes that likely arose from lineage-specific gene duplications.
The paper trail · every fact has a biography
Challenge the receipt
Citation formatting by citeproc-js (Frank Bennett) and the Citation Style Language project. Source and licenses.
Terms · Privacy · How verdicts work · Dispute this receipt