I have a feeling I did a feature on protein toxins in the early days, maybe 20 years ago, but couldn't find it. So I guess it was about time to revisit this field, which is a bit scary but also fascinating.
My feature is mainly about the evolutionary arms race between venomous snakes and their prey species, but I also included a shoutout for other toxic vertebrates including frogs, birds, and of course the duck-billed platypus. Read all about them:
The venom menace
Current Biology Volume 33, Issue 23, 4. December 2023, Pages R1209-R1212
Restricted access to full text and PDF download
(will become open access one year after publication)
Magic link for free access
(first seven weeks only)
See also my Mastodon thread where I will highlight all this year's CB features.
Sequence studies show that the three-finger toxins produced by elapid snakes like this banded krait (Bungarus fasciatus) all evolved from a membrane protein that lost its anchor. (Photo: Rushen/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0 Deed).)
No comments:
Post a Comment