title: Age-related association of venom gene expression and diet of predatory gastropods.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Venomous organisms serve as wonderful systems to study the evolution and expression of genes that are directly associated with prey capture. To evaluate the relationship between venom gene expression and prey utilization, we examined these features among individuals of different ages of the venomous, worm-eating marine snail Conus ebraeus. We determined expression levels of six genes that encode venom components, used a DNA-based approach to evaluate the identity of prey items, and compared patterns of venom gene expression and dietary specialization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  C. ebraeus exhibits two major shifts in diet with age-an initial transition from a relatively broad dietary breadth to a narrower one and then a return to a broader diet. Venom gene expression patterns also change with growth. All six venom genes are up-regulated in small individuals, down-regulated in medium-sized individuals, and then either up-regulated or continued to be down-regulated in members of the largest size class. Venom gene expression is not significantly different among individuals consuming different types of prey, but instead is coupled and slightly delayed with shifts in prey diversity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results imply that changes in gene expression contribute to intraspecific variation of venom composition and that gene expression patterns respond to changes in the diversity of food resources during different growth stages.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. changdan@umich.edu.|Department of Statistics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. changdan@umich.edu.|Present address: University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street -- Mail Stop EEBiology, Santa Cruz, CA, 95064, USA. changdan@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. tfduda@umich.edu.|Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancόn, Republic of Panama. tfduda@umich.edu.
authors.forename: Thomas F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Duda
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D020916:Conotoxins / Q000235:genetics*; D052078:Conus Snail / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D004032:Diet; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D015870:Gene Expression; D010802:Phylogeny; D014688:Venoms / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D020916:Conotoxins; D014688:Venoms
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