Conotoxins can mimic hormones & highjack the hormonal signalling of their fish preys. BUT HOW DOES THE CONE SNAIL KNOW WHAT THE FISH HORMONE LOOKS LIKE? Our paper is a fascinating evolution story on consomatins and their existence in invertebrates tinyurl.com/2p8y5rub (1/5)

So happy to finally see this out Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution!💃 This is one of the outputs of my Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions carried out at Natural History Museum and Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales where we looked into ribbon worm 🪱 #toxin evolution, expression patterns and tissue distribution. Check it out! 👇 bit.ly/3PcmprU

Do you know that insulin is something that's common between cone snails and viruses? In this review, we ([email protected] and Danny Chou ) discuss the discovery of insulins that cones and viruses use to hunt prey & influence host physiology. 1/3

Our new paper "Discovery and functional characterization of neuropeptides in crinoid echinoderms" published today. Congrats to Alessandra Aleotti & thanks to all co-authors Queen Mary University of London University of Milan University of Glasgow and to The Leverhulme Trust Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research for funding. frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…

Our work on the evolution of DEG/ENaC channels and how one of them controls acid-based discharge of cnidocysts is published in Communications Biology. Collaboration with Stefan Gründer RWTH Aachen. Thanks to Adrian Jaimes-Becerra Dr. Katharina Foreman (she/her) and Rubi Aharoni 🦁🇮🇱 nature.com/articles/s4200…

So proud of this! 🎉 🎉 Our work on the genome of Owenia and the mechanisms driving the evolution of larvae is just published in nature. It was a team effort, but special praise goes to @lynnmariposa and Francisco M Martín-Zamora, who never gave up. Queen Mary University of London QM_SBBS nature.com/articles/s4158…

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Protein 🐯🪲 Read this article published by #mdpitoxins， which searched for Insecticidal Toxins in Venom of the Red Tiger Assassin Bug (Havinthus rufovarius) 👉mdpi.com/933136 This cool study is from Dr. Andrew A Walker et al. 🎉

New paper with Mobli Lab on a bivalent remipede toxin targeting RyR! rdcu.be/c6fdN Check out our PhD position on the same project: stilling.forskning.no/job-ads-oslo-p…

It's easy to make fun of basic science. It seems ridiculous to study how cone snails hunt their prey. But actually it led to the discovery of pain medication: a peptide from their venom relieves pain but doesn't paralyze us, as we use a calcium channel differently from fish.💪🧪

Our 17-yr-old cone snail laid eggs, but the surprise was discovering a new annelid worm species that appear to be feeding on them! Learn about it here. If you work with cones, watch out for these worms as many questions remain! #conus #annelids brill.com/view/journals/…

In collaboration with Meet Zandawala, we have found the elusive Branchiostoma GnRH, demonstrating that both GnRH and Corazonin exist in cephalochordates and clarifying the evolutionary history of these systems. Thanks to the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research for the funding. tinyurl.com/mrx46hw3

A real time plant response to pest attack. Glutamate activates the movement of calcium ions throughout the plant which catalyzes the production of jasmonic acid, an insect antifeedant and plant protectant. The first insect bite elicits an immediate plant wide defense response.

Ancestral protein reconstruction has revealed the evolutionary events that govern variation in an enzyme called Dicer. elifesciences.org/articles/85120…

Regrettably, Daniel Thiel isn't on Twitter. But this is the result of 4 years of his postdoc work and our great collaboration during this time at the Jekely lab. We've identified numerous receptors in Nematostella and discovered many interesting things 1/n biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

We show the discovery of the #conopeptide Fj1, a selective agonist of the #somatostatin receptor 4 from the transcript of C. fijisulcatus, and shows potent #analgesia in mouse models of #postoperative and #neuropathic pain. Huge thanks to all co-authors (too may to list in tweet)

In this month's Highlight, learn about how shifts in dietary preferences and prey hunting strategies drive venom evolution in marine cone snails buff.ly/4d0p1V7 #science #evolution #biology #genome

Our study on the impact of 700 years of Inuvialuit subsistence hunting on beluga whales in the Mackenzie Delta (NWT, Canada), is out in PNAS. pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

Excited to share our latest story on how fish-hunting cone snail uses a combination of weaponized insulin and somatostatin-like toxins to disrupt glucose level in its fish prey 🐚⚡️🐠🍬 Check out our paper and animation to learn more: nature.com/articles/s4146… Nature Communications 🧵1/5

In the most recent work of my laboratory, we demonstrate that placozoans can respond to endogenous monoamines. Here you can look at the effects of tyramine, which increases the speed of placozoans. #Science #Placozoans #Neurotransmitters #Monoamines