Gene duplications are extensive and contribute significantly to the toxic proteome of nematocysts isolated from Acropora digitifera (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Scleractinia)

• Published in: BMC genomics Vol. 16; no. 1; p. 774
• Main Authors: Gacesa, Ranko, Chung, Ray, Dunn, Simon R., Weston, Andrew J., Jaimes-Becerra, Adrian, Marques, Antonio C., Morandini, André C., Hranueli, Daslav, Starcevic, Antonio, Ward, Malcolm, Long, Paul F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 13.10.2015; BioMed Central
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Analysis; Animal behavior; Animals; Anthozoa - genetics; Anthozoa - pathogenicity; Bioinformatics; Cnidarian Venoms - genetics; Cnidarian Venoms - toxicity; Evolution; Evolution, Molecular; Gene Duplication; Genetic aspects; Genetic translation; Genome; Nematocyst - metabolism; Peptides; Phylogeny; Proteome - genetics; Proteome - toxicity; Selection, Genetic; Snakes; Toxins

Gene duplication followed by adaptive selection is a well-accepted process leading to toxin diversification in venoms. However, emergent genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic evidence now challenges this role to be at best equivocal to other processess . Cnidaria are arguably the most ancient phylum...