Adaptive radiation of venomous marine snail lineages and the accelerated evolution of venom peptide genes

Olivera B.M., Watkins M., Bandyopadhyay P., Imperial J.S., de la Cotera E.P., Aguilar M.B., Vera E.L., Concepcion G.P., Lluisma A.O.

An impressive biodiversity (>10,000 species) of marine snails (suborder Toxoglossa or superfamily Conoidea) have complex venoms, each containing approximately 100 biologically active, disulfide-rich peptides. In the genus Conus, the most intensively investigated toxoglossan lineage (∼500 species), a small set of venom gene superfamilies undergo rapid sequence hyperdiversification within their mature toxin regions.