Toxin evolution in nemerteans or ribbon worms
In this project proteome and transcriptome data are used to unravel toxin gene evolution in nemerteans or ribbon worms. Interesting candidate genes are later expressed and tested in detail for their toxic activities. The work is conducted within the new work group Animal Venomics at the Institute for Insectbiotechnolog (Justus Liebig University of Giessen and Fraunhofer IME Giessen).The project Animal Venomics is funded by the Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts (HMWK) via the LOEWE Center Translational Biodiversity Genomics. The project on nemertean toxins is is linked to the LOEWE TBG project Mobile Genetic Elements in unexplored genomes including nemerteans.