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Great evo talks

painted wolf

painted wolf

Grey Muzzle
Check these out!
It's always good to hear about the research strait from the people doing it.

https://www.nescent.org/media/NABTSymposium2010.php

I've only had time to watch the first one so far:
Time to change the channel: Predator-prey arms races and the evolution of toxin resistance in snakes
Arms races between predators and dangerous prey can lead to rapid and elaborate counter-adaptation. Newts of the genus Taricha possess the sodium channel blocker tetrodotoxin (TTX), which is lethal to most predators. Garter snakes have repeatedly evolved resistance to TTX through their ecological interaction with toxic newts. Sodium channel genes are highly conserved across vertebrates, yet garter snakes have evolved resistance through a few key mutations in these proteins in a very short evolutionary time. Snake species around the world have evolved TTX resistance through the same set of mutations, painting a clear picture of constraint driven convergent evolution. Understanding the molecular mechanism of adaptation helps explain the dynamics of predator-prey arms races in this system, wherein predators sometimes "win" the race, but prey never do.
Click to expand...
It's amazing what a single nucleotide change in a single gene can do!

Sodium channels are key to cells functioning.... the movement of sodium in and out of the cell changes the "electrical charge" of the cell.


Tetrodotoxin(TTX) binds irreparably to these channels and shut them down... stopping the cells from doing anything. These snakes have resistance to this toxin by simple mutations to the gene that codes for sodium channels.



So single nucleotide mutations can produce very powerful new alleles and drive evolution. (two nucleotide changes and you really get powerful changes)



The vid is 45 minutes long... but about 35 is the actual talk the rest is Q&A. Enjoy and let me know what you think.


wa:do
 
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