Understanding evolution of snake venom is key to treatment
By kingsnake.com · August 21, 2014 5:54 am
Scientists hope a new discovery about the origin of snake venom can lead to more effective treatments of snake bites.
From Laboratory Equipment:
The genes encoding these proteins have been duplicated at some point in the past and one of the resulting copies has been restricted to the venom gland, where natural selection has acted to develop or increase toxicity. This differs from the long-standing hypothesis that venom proteins are “recruited” from body tissues, in the sense that these proteins are already expressed in the venom or salivary gland prior to becoming toxic.Read more...
