Toxin-resistant sodium channels: parallel adaptive evolution across a complete gene family.
- M. C. Jost, D. Hillis, Ying Lu, J. W. Kyle, H. Fozzard, H. Zakon
- BiologyMolecular biology and evolution
- 1 June 2008
This study shows how 4 taxonomically diverse species of pufferfishes each evolved resistance to the guanidinium toxins tetrodotoxin and saxitoxin via parallel amino acid replacements across all 8 sodium channels present in teleost fish genomes.
Changes in signalling during agonistic interactions between male weakly electric knifefish, Apteronotus leptorhynchus
- F. Triefenbach, H. Zakon
- PsychologyAnimal Behaviour
- 1 April 2008
Diversity of sexual dimorphism in electrocommunication signals and its androgen regulation in a genus of electric fish, Apteronotus
In both chirping and electric organ discharge frequency, evolutionary changes in the presence or direction of sexual dimorphism have been accompanied and perhaps caused byChanges in the androgen regulation of theElectric organ discharge.
EOD modulations of brown ghost electric fish: JARs, chirps, rises, and dips
- H. Zakon, Joerg Oestreich, S. Tallarovic, F. Triefenbach
- BiologyJournal of Physiology - Paris
- 1 September 2002
Old gene duplication facilitates origin and diversification of an innovative communication system—twice
- M. Arnegard, Derrick J. Zwickl, Ying Lu, H. Zakon
- BiologyProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- 2 December 2010
It is shown that Scn4aa co-option and rapid sequence evolution were tightly coupled to the two origins of electric organ, providing strong evidence that ScN4aa contributed to parallel innovations underlying the evolutionary diversification of each electric fish group.
Adaptive evolution of voltage-gated sodium channels: The first 800 million years
- H. Zakon
- BiologyProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- 22 June 2012
Voltage-gated Na+-permeable (Nav) channels form the basis for electrical excitability in animals and show adaptive sequence evolution for increasing diversity in communication signals, in protection against lethal Nav channel toxins, and in specialized habitats.
Evolution of sodium channels predates the origin of nervous systems in animals
- B. Liebeskind, D. Hillis, H. Zakon
- BiologyProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- 16 May 2011
A phylogeny infer ancestral states of the ion selectivity filter and show that this state has been retained in the choanoflagellate and placozoan channels and identifies key gene duplications and losses and shows convergent amino acid replacements at important points along the animal lineage.
Sodium channel genes and the evolution of diversity in communication signals of electric fishes: convergent molecular evolution.
- H. Zakon, Ying Lu, Derrick J. Zwickl, D. Hillis
- BiologyProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…
- 7 March 2006
Changes in the expression and sequence of the same gene are associated with the independent evolution of signal complexity, and appear to be evolving under positive selection in both lineages.
Gene Duplications and Evolution of Vertebrate Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels
- A. Novak, M. C. Jost, Ying Lu, Alison D. Taylor, H. Zakon, A. Ribera
- BiologyJournal of Molecular Evolution
- 7 July 2006
The findings from phylogenetic analysis and chromosomal mapping of Danio rerio genes indicate that tandem duplications are an unlikely mechanism for generation of the extant teleost SCNA genes, and analyses of other closely mapped genes in D. rerio support the hypothesis that a whole-genome duplication was involved in expansion of the SCNA gene family in teleosts.
Conductances contributing to the action potential of Sternopygus electrocytes
- M. Ferrari, H. Zakon
- BiologyJournal of Comparative Physiology
- 1 September 1993
In this study, the voltage-sensitive ionic currents of electrocytes were identified under current- and voltage-clamp as a prelude to further studies on their regulation by sex steroid hormones.
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