RT Journal Article
T1 Evolution, Expression Patterns, and Distribution of Novel Ribbon Worm Predatory and Defensive Toxins
A1 Verdes, Aida
A1 Taboada Moreno, Sergio
A1 Hamilton, Brett R.
A1 Undheim, Eivind A.B.
A1 Sonoda, Gabriel G.
A1 Andrade, Sonia C.S.
A1 Morato, Esperanza
A1 Marina, Ana Isabel
A1 Cárdenas, César A.
A1 Riesgo, Ana
AB Ribbon worms are active predators that use an eversible proboscis to inject venom into their prey and defend themselves with toxic epidermal secretions. Previous work on nemertean venom has largely focused on just a few species and has not investigated the different predatory and defensive secretions in detail. Consequently, our understanding of the composition and evolution of ribbon worm venoms is still very limited. Here, we present a comparative study of nemertean venom combining RNA-seq differential gene expression analyses of venom-producing tissues, tandem mass spectrometry-based proteomics of toxic secretions, and mass spectrometry imaging of proboscis sections, to shed light onto the composition and evolution of predatory and defensive toxic secretions in Antarctonemertes valida. Our analyses reveal a wide diversity of putative defensive and predatory toxins with tissue-specific gene expression patterns and restricted distributions to the mucus and proboscis proteomes respectively, suggesting that ribbon worms produce distinct toxin cocktails for predation and defense. Our results also highlight the presence of numerous lineage-specific toxins, indicating that venom evolution is highly divergent across nemerteans, producing toxin cocktails that might be finely tuned to subdue different prey. Our data also suggest that the hoplonemertean proboscis is a highly specialized predatory organ that seems to be involved in a variety of biological functions besides predation, including secretion and sensory perception. Overall, our results advance our knowledge into the diversity and evolution of nemertean venoms and highlight the importance of combining different types of data to characterize toxin composition in understudied venomous organisms.
PB Oxford University Press
SN 0737-4038
YR 2022
FD 2022-05-05
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/134220
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/134220
LA eng
NO Verdes, A., Taboada, S., Hamilton, B. R., Undheim, E. A. B., Sonoda, G. G., Andrade, S. C. S., Morato, E., Marina, A. I., Cárdenas, C. A., & Riesgo, A. (2022). Evolution, expression patterns, and distribution of novel ribbon worm predatory and defensive toxins. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 39(5). https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msac096
NO This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program through a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (grant agreement 841576), the Spanish Ministry of Science MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR (grant IJC2020-045256-I), and the Marie Curie Alumni Association Micro Media grant to A.V. A.R. acknowledges funding from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grants RYC2018-024247-I and PID2019-105769GB-I00, both funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/50110001103 and EI “FSE invierte en tu futuro”. S.T. received funding from the grant PID2020-117115GA-100 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/50110001103. E.A.B.U. was supported by a Norwegian Research Council FRIPRO-YRT Fellowship no. 287462. C.A.C. acknowledges funding support by INACH Marine Protected Area Program (24 03 052) and ANID-Millennium Science Initiative Program—ICN2021_002. Part of the proteomic analyses was carried out in the CBMSO PROTEIN CHEMISTRY FACILITY, that belongs to the network ProteoRed, PRB3-ISCIII, supported by grant PT17/0019 of the PE I+D+i 2013–2016, funded by ISCIII and ERDF. We wish to express our gratitude to Prof Juan Junoy for helpful discussions during the preparation of this manuscript and Dr Vasiliki Koutsouveli for assistance with histological procedures. We would also like to thank Dr Carlos Leiva, Dr Patricia Álvarez-Campos, Dr Erasmo Macaya-Horta, and Prof Juan Junoy for their help during the collection of specimens. Part of the collection was performed under the frame of the project DISTANTCOM (CTM2013-42667/ANT), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness.
NO Comisión Europea
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO Agencia Estatal de Investigación (España)
NO Unión Europea
NO Marie Curie Alumni Association
NO Norwegian Research Council
NO Instituto Antártico Chileno
NO Instituto de Salud Carlos III (España)
NO Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 25 mar 2026