Giulia Zancolli, Juan J Calvete, Michael D Cardwell, Harry W Greene, William K Hayes, Matthew J Hegarty, Hans-Werner Herrmann, Andrew T Holycross, Dominic I Lannutti, John F Mulley, Libia Sanz, Zachary D Travis, Joshua R Whorley, Catharine E Wüster, Wolfgang Wüster
Understanding the origin and maintenance of phenotypic variation, particularly across a continuous spatial distribution, represents a key challenge in evolutionary biology. For this, animal venoms represent ideal study systems: they are complex, variable, yet easily quantifiable molecular phenotypes with a clear function. Rattlesnakes display tremendous variation in their venom composition, mostly through strongly dichotomous venom strategies, which may even coexist within a single species. Here, through dense, widespread population-level sampling of the Mojave rattlesnake, Crotalus scutulatus, we show that genomic structural variation at multiple loci underlies extreme geographical variation in venom composition, which is maintained despite extensive gene flow...
March 13, 2019: Proceedings. Biological Sciences