# s-evol: pinnacle of nastiness, an example of natural flexibility

<< [..] venom genes might not be consistent even within a single species of rattlesnake, perhaps because snakes in different areas specialize in different prey. One western diamondback rattlesnake that Carroll’s team [Sean B. Carroll] sampled had unexpected extra genes that the other western diamondbacks didn’t have. >>

<< As for the ancestral rattlesnake, it’s impossible to say exactly how powerful the now-extinct reptile’s venom was, Carroll says. But the wider variety of enzymes this rattlesnake could hypothetically produce would have given it more flexibility to adapt its poison to environmental curveballs — an ability that Castoe [Todd Castoe] describes as “the pinnacle of nastiness.” >>

Laurel Hamers. Rattlesnakes have reduced their repertoire of venoms. September 15, 2016

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/rattlesnakes-have-reduced-their-repertoire-venoms

Noah L. Dowell, Matt W. Giorgianni, et al. The Deep Origin and Recent Loss of Venom Toxin Genes in Rattlesnakes. Current Biology. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.07.038
Published: Sept.15, 2016

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(16)30789-8