Unique adaptive evolution in snake proteins -- insight into vertebrate physiology

“Snakes are an invaluable resource for structural biologists and biochemists, who can use comparative genomics to generate hypotheses on how COI and oxidative phosphorylation function, and how these functions may be altered and redesigned,” said Dr. Todd Castoe, a lead author on the paper.

“We believe that our results will provide a textbook case as the most clear and dramatic example of adaptive evolution in a core metabolic protein to date, as well as providing the implication that strong molecular and physiological adaptation can be linked,” said Pollock.

“The manuscript represents an important milestone in molecular evolution and vertebrate adaptation, and opens up clear and well-justified directions for further research. Snake metabolic proteins may significantly clarify understanding about the operation of these critical yet functionally elusive metabolic proteins”.

Support is gratefully acknowledged from an NIH training grant LM009451 (TAC) and NIH grants GM065612 and GM065580 (DDP). These funding sources had no role whatsoever in preparation of the manuscript.

Contact:
David Pollock
Email:
Tel: +1 (303) 724-3234

Citation: Castoe TA, Jiang ZJ, Gu W, Wang ZO, Pollock DD (2008) Adaptive Evolution and Functional Redesign of Core Metabolic Proteins in Snakes. PLoS ONE 3(5): e2201. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002201

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT (URL live from May 21): http://www.plosone.org/doi/pone.0002201

PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW: http://www.plos.org/press/pone-03-05-pollock.pdf

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