Evolutionary origin and development of snake fangs

Freek J. Vonk, Jeroen F. Admiraal, Kate Jackson, Ram Reshef, Merijn A. G. de Bakker, Kim Vanderschoot, Iris van den Berge, Marit van Atten, Erik Burgerhout, Andrew Beck, Peter J. Mirtschin, Elazar Kochva, Frans Witte, Bryan G. Fry, Anthony E. Woods and Michael K. Richardson ()
Additional contact information
Freek J. Vonk: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands
Jeroen F. Admiraal: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands
Kate Jackson: Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington 99362, USA
Ram Reshef: Faculty of Biology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology
Merijn A. G. de Bakker: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands
Kim Vanderschoot: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands
Iris van den Berge: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands
Marit van Atten: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands
Erik Burgerhout: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands
Andrew Beck: Sansom Institute, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia
Peter J. Mirtschin: Sansom Institute, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia
Elazar Kochva: Tel Aviv University
Frans Witte: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands
Bryan G. Fry: Bio21 Institute, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria 3010, Australia
Anthony E. Woods: Sansom Institute, School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, Australia
Michael K. Richardson: Institute of Biology, Leiden University, Kaiserstraat 63, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

Nature, 2008, vol. 454, issue 7204, 630-633

Abstract: Evolution bites: Fang development and the diversity of modern snakes An 'evo-devo' study of venomous snakes has arrived at a new model for the evolution of snake fangs, a subject of some controversy. Many of the advanced snakes alive today use syringe-like fangs to inject venom into their prey. The fangs are either positioned at the front or rear of the upper jaw, and the controversy lies in whether the two arrangements are evolutionarily related. By visualizing tooth-forming epithelium in the upper jaw of 96 snake embryos from 8 species, the study shows that 'front-fanged' and 'rear-fanged' types are strikingly similar in morphogenesis. Front fangs develop from a rear part of the upper jaw that is displaced forward during development, and rear fangs from a specialized zone that stays put. The new model proposes that a posterior subregion of tooth-forming epithelium became developmentally uncoupled from the remaining dentition, allowing the posterior teeth to evolve independently and in close association with the venom gland, becoming highly modified in different lineages. This developmental event could have facilitated the massive radiation of advanced snakes in the Cenozoic era, resulting in the spectacular diversity of snakes seen today. The cover shows a Lataste's viper (Vipera latastei gaditana) with the erected fang covered by the fang sheath. Photo by Ruben Schipper.

Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature07178 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:454:y:2008:i:7204:d:10.1038_nature07178

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature07178

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().