Venom represents a key adaptation of many venomous predators, allowing them to
immobilise prey quickly through chemical rather than physical warfare. Evolutionary arms …

The ability of an animal to effectively capture prey and defend against predators is pivotal for
survival. Venom is often a mixture of many components including toxin proteins that shape …

Gene duplication is a major force driving evolutionary innovation. A classic example is
generating new animal toxins via duplication of physiological protein-encoding genes and …

Recent studies have elucidated the diversity of genes encoding venom in Sea anemones.
However, most of those genes are yet to be explored in an evolutionary context. Insulin is a …

Background The rapid development of sequencing technologies resulted in a wide
expansion of genomics studies using venomous lineages. This facilitated research focusing …

Background Venoms, which have evolved numerous times in animals, are ideal models of
convergent trait evolution. However, detailed genomic studies of toxin-encoding genes exist …

While the unique symbiotic relationship between anemonefishes and sea anemones is
iconic, it is still not fully understood how anemonefishes can withstand and thrive within the …

For most animals, it is relatively easy to call a juvenile from an adult form. As animals change
their appearance from juveniles to adults, myriad other changes operate, including dietary …

Venom plays a crucial role in the defense and predation of venomous animals. Spiders
(Araneae) are among the most successful predators and have a fascinating venom …

Cephalopods like octopuses and cuttlefishes are known to secrete a 'toxic saliva'to inject
into their prey, especially crustaceans since the XIX century. However, only in the mid-XX …