- Joined
- Apr 19, 2010
- Messages
- 478
I bring you a big database of cephalopod genes.
UniProt
EDIT: So maybe I should talk more about them.
You'll notice that a lot of them look curiously like genes from vertebrates and other phyla - for example, alcohol dehydrogenase and complexin. Even cephalotocin and octopressin are cephalopod analogs of oxytocin and vasopressin.
There are a few interesting genes, though. The s-crystallins form cephalopod lenses (which are made out of hard protein; I've handled a Humboldt squid eye and the lens feels like a marble because it's made of crystallized protein), and cephalotoxin is, of course, one of the various types of venom octopuses produce.
UniProt
EDIT: So maybe I should talk more about them.
You'll notice that a lot of them look curiously like genes from vertebrates and other phyla - for example, alcohol dehydrogenase and complexin. Even cephalotocin and octopressin are cephalopod analogs of oxytocin and vasopressin.
There are a few interesting genes, though. The s-crystallins form cephalopod lenses (which are made out of hard protein; I've handled a Humboldt squid eye and the lens feels like a marble because it's made of crystallized protein), and cephalotoxin is, of course, one of the various types of venom octopuses produce.
