Snakebite envenoming is a neglected tropical disease that kills> 100,000 people and
maims> 400,000 people every year. Impoverished populations living in the rural tropics are …

Venoms are integrated phenotypes that evolved independently in, and are used for
predatory and defensive purposes by, a wide phylogenetic range of organisms. The same …

The snake is the symbol of medicine due to its association with Asclepius, the Greek God of
medicine, and so with good reasons. More than 725 species of venomous snakes have …

Snake venoms present a great diversity of pharmacologically active compounds that may be
applied as research and biotechnological tools, as well as in drug development and …

Elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying snake venom variability provides
important clues for understanding how the biological functions of this powerful toxic arsenal …

Snake venoms have been subjected to increasingly sensitive analyses for well over 100
years, but most research has been restricted to front-fanged snakes, which actually …

The genetic origins of novelty are a central interest of evolutionary biology. Most new
proteins evolve from preexisting proteins but the evolutionary path from ancestral gene to …

Venom variability is commonly reported for venomous snakes including Bothrops atrox.
Here, we compared the composition of venoms from B. atrox snakes collected at Amazonian …

Developmental phenotypic changes can evolve under selection imposed by age-and size-
related ecological differences. Many of these changes occur through programmed …

Evolution of novel traits is a challenging subject in biological research. Several snake
lineages developed elaborate venom systems to deliver complex protein mixtures for prey …