Vote to sequence the senome of the sexually-dimorphic Temple

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Vote to sequence the senome of the sexually-dimorphic Temple

Post by Scott Waters »

Vote to sequence the genome of the sexually-dimorphic Temple PitViper

Hello Fellow Herpers!

My colleagues at the National University of Singapore and I are currently conducting a project to sequence the genome of the Temple (or Wagler’s) PitViper, Topidolaemus wagleri. We are one of five projects (out of more than 200) to be selected to compete for a grant that would help us reach our goals.

As many of you know, the Temple PitViper is a beautiful and fascinating snake. Although most species of snakes show very little difference between males and females, the Temple PitViper exhibits extreme differences (sexual dimorphism). Females are stout-bodied and have yellow bands that break up a black background with white, yellow, green, and/or blue speckling throughout. The much smaller males are a fairly uniform light green color with some white and maroon spots or bars scattered about their surface. Interestingly, the young are all born with the same pattern, regardless of sex, and look like smaller versions of the males. What triggers the change in females is currently unknown.
Besides these sex-based differences, the Temple PitViper also has unique venom. Although they rarely cause envenomation in humans, the venom is potent and contains waglerins, a group of toxins that has not been found in the venoms of any other snake species. These waglerins are potent neuroinhibitors, so they (along with other toxins in the venom) are being studied for development as therapeutic drugs or research tools to better understand human physiology. We do not currently know if there are any differences in venom composition between males and females (but we are looking into it).

These snakes also have cultural significance, as they are abundant residents of the Temple of the Azure Cloud in Penang, Malaysia. Here, they inhabit the Temple without being harassed by the gathered human worshippers and visitors. The results of our project will greatly help in the fields of snake evolution, drug development, venom evolution, functional genomics, and anti-venom development. When combined with data from the two other snake genomes that have been sequenced (for the king cobra and Burmese python), we will have a much better understanding of the evolution and relationships among snakes in general and venomous snakes in particular. This project will also likely impact the fields of snake conservation and phylogenetics.

If you would like to help us, please vote for the Temple PitViper project at http://www.pacb.com/smrt-science/smrt-g ... -pitviper/. You can vote once per day using up to three e-mail addresses per person. You can also vote every day up through the end of the competition (April 5, 2017). The website has a video to introduce you to the project, and more information can be found on our Facebook page ( www.facebook.com/TemplePitviperGenome/ ), a recent blog on the Herpetological Society of Singapore website (https://herpsocsg.wordpress.com/) or our Twitter feed (@TemplePitviper or #TemplePitviperGenome). Thanks! Vote Viper! #SeqtheViper

Ryan McCleary
Postdoctoral Researcher
Department of Biology
Utah State University
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Bryan Hamilton
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Re: Vote to sequence the senome of the sexually-dimorphic Te

Post by Bryan Hamilton »

FYI the voting is really close. Let's give it that field herper bump!
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