geographic variation in venom allelic composition and diets of the widespread predatory marine gastropod conus ebraeus毒液的地理变异等位基因组成和饮食的广泛掠夺性海洋圆锥ebraeus腹足类动物.pdfVIP

Geographic Variation in Venom Allelic Composition and Diets of the Widespread Predatory Marine Gastropod Conus ebraeus 1,2 1 1 1 Thomas F. Duda, Jr. *, Dan Chang , Brittany D. Lewis , Taehwan Lee 1 Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States of America, 2 Smithsonian ´ Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, Republic of Panama Abstract Background: Members of the predatory gastropod genus Conus use a venom comprised of a cocktail of peptide neurotoxins, termed conotoxins or conopeptides, to paralyze prey and conotoxin gene family members diversify via strong positive selection. Because Conus venoms are used primarily to subdue prey, the evolution of venoms is likely affected by predator-prey interactions. Methodology/Principal Findings: To identify the selective forces that drive the differentiation of venoms within species of Conus, we examined the distribution of alleles of a polymorphic O-superfamily conotoxin locus of Conus ebraeus at Okinawa, Guam and Hawaii. Previous analyses of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I gene sequences suggest that populations of C. ebraeus, a worm-eating Conus, are not structured genetically in the western and central Pacific. Nonetheless, because the sample size from Guam was relatively low, we obtained additional data from this location and reexamined patterns of genetic variation at the mitochondrial gene at Okinawa, Guam and Hawaii. We also utilized a DNA-based approach to identify prey items of individuals of C. ebraeus from Guam and compared this information to published data on diets at Okinawa and Hawa