Revising the Role of Defense and Predation in Cone Snail Venom Evolution

Prashanth, Jutty Rajan; Dutertre, Sébastien; Lewis, Richard J.

doi:10.1007/978-94-007-6727-0_18-1

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Given this, the differences in diet observed for these populations may drive divergence at toxin encoding genes through selection for effective capture of different prey types, although other explanations could be feasible. For instance, although cone snails utilize venoms to subdue and capture prey, venoms also serve a defensive role in some species [30,31]. Although we do not know if C. miliaris utilizes its venom defensively nor how predation pressures on this species differ among locations, it is possible that these or other factors are responsible for the patterns of variation that we observed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…We specifically sought to determine how dietary differences are associated with structural and regulatory differentiation at toxin-related and non-toxin-related transcripts among populations. Although we assume that many of the transcripts encoding venom components are utilized in venoms for capturing prey, several recent studies have shown that some cone snail species utilize their venom to deter predation and that offensive venoms differ considerably from defensive ones [30,31]. Moreover, the three locations are likely to differ in biotic and abiotic characteristics that may present distinct challenges for the populations of C. miliaris at these sites.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of Predator-Prey Interactions on Predator Traits: Differentiation of Diets and Venoms of a Marine Snail

Weese

Duda

2019

Toxins

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Species interactions are fundamental ecological forces that can have significant impacts on the evolutionary trajectories of species. Nonetheless, the contribution of predator-prey interactions to genetic and phenotypic divergence remains largely unknown. Predatory marine snails of the family Conidae exhibit specializations for different prey items and intraspecific variation in prey utilization patterns at geographic scales. Because cone snails utilize venom to capture prey and venom peptides are direct gene products, it is feasible to examine the evolution of genes associated with changes in resource utilization. Here, we compared feeding ecologies and venom duct transcriptomes of individuals from three populations of Conus miliaris, a species that exhibits geographic variation in prey utilization and dietary breadth, in order to determine the extent to which dietary differences are correlated with differences in venom composition, and if expanded niche breadth is associated with increased variation in venom composition. While populations showed little to no overlap in resource utilization, taxonomic richness of prey was greatest at Easter Island. Changes in dietary breadth were associated with differences in expression patterns and increased genetic differentiation of toxin-related genes. The Easter Island population also exhibited greater diversity of toxin-related transcripts, but did not show increased variance in expression of these transcripts. These results imply that differences in dietary breadth contribute more to the structural and regulatory differentiation of venoms than differences in diet.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%