Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
Mar Drugs. 2022 Mar 15;20(3):209. doi: 10.3390/md20030209.
Cone snail venom biodiversity reflects dietary preference and predatory and defensive envenomation strategies across the ≈900 species of . To better understand the mechanisms of adaptive radiations in closely related species, we investigated the venom of two phylogenetically and spatially related species, and of the clade. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the major superfamily profiles were conserved between the two species, including 68 shared conotoxin transcripts. These shared transcripts contributed 90% of the conotoxin expression in and only 49% in , which showed greater toxin diversification in the dominant O1, I2, A, O2, O3, and M superfamilies compared to . On the basis of morphology, two additional sub-groups closely resembling were also identified from One Tree Island Reef. Despite the morphological resemblance, the venom duct proteomes of these cryptic sub-groups were distinct from We suggest rapid conotoxin sequence divergence may have facilitated adaptive radiation and the establishment of new species and the regulatory mechanisms facilitating species-specific venom evolution.
圆锥蜗牛毒液的生物多样性反映了约 900 种 物种的饮食偏好以及捕食和防御性毒液策略。为了更好地了解密切相关物种的适应性辐射机制，我们研究了两个在进化和空间上相关的物种，即 属的 和 的毒液。转录组分析表明，这两个物种之间的主要超家族图谱是保守的，包括 68 个共享的 conotoxin 转录本。这些共享的转录本在 中贡献了 conotoxin 表达的 90%，而在 中仅贡献了 49%，这表明与 相比，主要的 O1、I2、A、O2、O3 和 M 超家族中的毒素多样化程度更高。基于形态学，我们还从一棵树上岛礁鉴定出了另外两个与 非常相似的亚群。尽管形态相似，但这些隐生亚群的毒腺蛋白质组与 不同。我们推测，快速的 conotoxin 序列分化可能促进了适应性辐射和新物种的建立，以及促进物种特异性毒液进化的调节机制。
