A subject of extensive study in evolutionary theory has been the issue of how neutral,
redundant copies can be maintained in the genome for long periods of time. Concurrently …

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 …

Defensins are a well-characterised group of small, disulphide-rich, cationic peptides that are
produced by essentially all eukaryotes and are highly diverse in their sequences and …

The diversity of venomous organisms and the toxins they produce have been increasingly
investigated, but taxonomic bias remains important. Neogastropods, a group of marine …

Animal venoms are theorized to evolve under the significant influence of positive Darwinian
selection in a chemical arms race scenario, where the evolution of venom resistance in prey …

Snake venom has been hypothesized to have originated and diversified through a process
that involves duplication of genes encoding body proteins with subsequent recruitment of …

Snake venom three-finger α-neurotoxins (α-3FNTx) act on postsynaptic nicotinic
acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ) to produce skeletal …

The classic model for the evolution of novel gene function is through gene duplication
followed by evolution of a new function by one of the copies (neofunctionalization)[1, 2] …

Understanding how biotic interactions shape the genomes of the interacting species is a
long-sought goal of evolutionary biology that has been hampered by the scarcity of tractable …

Understanding snake venom proteomes is becoming increasingly important to understand
snake venom biology, evolution and especially clinical effects of venoms and approaches to …