Abstract
Understanding the genetic basis in animals possessing toxin could
provide us significant insights into the adaptive evolution in toxin
resistance. The reason of toxin resistance may refer to the mutation in
sodium channels or the toxin-binding proteins. Sea snail Nassarius can
accumulate tetrodotoxin (TTX) in their body and has caused serious
people poisoning and death incident. However, the genetic basis of
Nassarius including genetic expression and mutation has not been
researched yet. Here we investigated the genetic basis from two
Nassarius species (Nassarius succinctus and Nassarius variciferus) for
TTX resistance with transcriptome. The genetic express pattern for both
species was clearly revealed. The cellular and metabolic process, and
binding and catalytic activity accounted for the top classification
categories. The toxic samples generally produced more up-regulated genes
than non-toxic samples. Some genes which possibly produce TTX-binding
proteins were flagged. One sodium channel gene was identified from N.
succinctus where one mutation cite was found as being different from all
other animals included. The genetic basis of Nassarius revealed in this
study would contribute to the further TTX-resistance mechanism research.