CONE snails have the world鈥檚 fastest evolving genes, according to researchers
at Harvard University.
The predatory snails pack hundreds of neurotoxins into a venom that kills
fish, worms and other snails. Thomas Duda and Stephen Palumbi examined how
quickly two snail species, Conus abbreviatus and Conus lividus,
developed new toxins since they diverged 10 million years ago.
They found that at least 1.7 per cent of the snail鈥檚 toxin-producing genes
change every one million years鈥攁 rate five times as fast as the
fastest-evolving mammalian genes (Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, vol 96, p 6820). An 鈥渁rms race鈥� between the snails and their
diverse prey drives this evolution, says Palumbi.
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