Groundbreaking Study Looks at the Development of Snake Venom Genetics

A new research led by biologists at The University of Texas at Arlington together with an international team of colleagues offered the first coherent explanation of how snake venom control systems developed key examples of how complex features evolve.

Snake venom gene expression is managed by unique regulatory architecture and the integration of numerous co-opted vertebrate pathways, according to Todd Castoe, a UTA biology professor.

It was published in Genome Research on June 1.

Evolution of snake venom

(Photo : CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images)

According to Castoe, there are few explicit instances of how new regulatory systems arise to drive fresh complicated features, as per ScienceDaily.

This study gave a useful illustration of how evolution may rewire regulatory networks, illustrating a surprising number of different strategies for how similar rewiring may occur in other species, including humans.

Biologists have battled to comprehend how new and complex features arise since Charles Darwin established the notion of evolution by natural selection in the 19th century.

Snake venom and venom systems are examples of complicated characteristics.

Castoe explained that little is known about their molecular processes, as well as the genetic and evolutionary roots of this regulatory system.

Researchers can now research portions of the genome responsible for the control of these genes in addition to examining particular venom genes, said Blair Perry, who obtained his Ph.D. from UTA in 2021 with Castoe as his faculty adviser.

This offered up new possibilities for understanding how variation in snake venom correlates with variation in the genome, both within and across snake species.

Snakebite was designated as a neglected tropical disease by the World Health Organization in 2019.

The considerable heterogeneity in venom composition among snake populations and species is the fundamental problem in treating snakebite.

Also Read: Rare Seizure Inducing Snake Venom Finally Decoded

King cobras as their base for venom genes

Snake venoms are poisonous protein concoctions used to catch victims, as per the study, "The king cobra genome reveals dynamic gene evolution and adaptation in the snake venom system."

Researchers sequenced the genome of a venomous snake, the king cobra, and analyzed the composition of venom gland-expressed genes, short RNAs, and secreted venom proteins to explore the development of these sophisticated biological warfare systems.

They showed that venom secretory system regulatory components may have originated in the pancreas, and that venom toxin genes were co-opted by different genomic methods.

Toxin genes critical for prey capture have expanded rapidly by gene duplication and developed under positive selection after co-option, culminating in protein neofunctionalization.

This substantial and diversified venom-related genetic response appears to be the result of a coevolutionary arms race between venomous snakes and their prey.

The king cobra venom gland shared molecular similarities with known profiles of human and mouse pancreas, according to sequencing and analysis of microRNA (miRNA) libraries produced from a variety of tissues.

MiR-375, a canonical miRNA in the vertebrate pancreas, is the most prevalent miRNA in our venom gland library.

MiR-375 expression is confined to the pancreas and pituitary gland in mice, chickens, and zebrafish.

They found miR-375 expression in the copperhead rat snake embryonic pancreas (Coelognathus radiatus), the spitting cobra's islet cell masses linked with the pancreas and spleen (Naja siamensis), and, most critically, the king cobra's venom gland.

The king cobra venom gland transcriptome contains 20 toxin families, including all toxin families listed in the genome.

The venom proteome revealed 14 toxin families, including nerve development factor, phospholipase-B, and cobra venom factor, which had never been found in king cobra venom before.