A Single Mutation Unlocks Cascading Exaptations In The Origin Of A Potent Pitviper Neurotoxin

Keywords

evolutionary biophysics; evolutionary innovation; exaptation; gene duplication; venom

Abstract

Evolutionary innovations and complex phenotypes seemingly require an improbable amount of genetic change to evolve. Rattlesnakes display two dramatically different venom phenotypes. Type I venoms are hemorrhagic with low systemic toxicity and high expression of tissue-destroying snake venom metalloproteinases. Type II venoms are highly neurotoxic and lack snake venom metalloproteinase expression and associated hemorrhagic activity. This dichotomy hinges on Mojave toxin (MTx), a phospholipase A 2 (PLA2) based β-neurotoxin expressed in Type II venoms. MTx is comprised of a nontoxic acidic subunit that undergoes extensive proteolytic processing and allosterically regulates activity of a neurotoxic basic subunit. Evolution of the acidic subunit presents an evolutionary challenge because the need for high expression of a nontoxic venom component and the proteolytic machinery required for processing suggests genetic changes of seemingly little immediate benefit to fitness. We showed that MTx evolved through a cascading series of exaptations unlocked by a single nucleotide change. The evolution of one new cleavage site in the acidic subunit unmasked buried cleavage sites already present in ancestral PLA2s, enabling proteolytic processing. Snake venom serine proteases, already present in the venom to disrupt prey hemostasis, possess the requisite specificities for MTx acidic subunit proteolysis. The dimerization interface between MTx subunits evolved by exploiting a latent, but masked, hydrophobic interaction between ancestral PLA2s. The evolution of MTx through exaptation of existing functional and structural features suggests complex phenotypes that depend on evolutionary innovations can arise from minimal genetic change enabled by prior evolution.

Publication Date

4-1-2018

Publication Title

Molecular Biology and Evolution

Volume

35

Issue

4

Number of Pages

887-898

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msx334

Socpus ID

85044602078 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85044602078

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS