The Genomic Blueprint for a Snake’s Grip
A new study published in *Molecular Biology and Evolution* reveals the genetic and regulatory architecture behind a key adaptation in arboreal snakes: elongated tails. Researchers generated a high-quality, chromosome-level genome for the green cat snake and performed comparative analyses with the Asian vine snake. They identified accelerated evolution and positive selection in genes critical for somite specification and axial elongation, such as *HES7* and *TBX18*. Crucially, the study found convergent divergence in conserved non-exonic elements (CNEs) linked to the *GDF11-LIN28-HOX13* pathway, which governs the transition from axial to tail development. Functional assays confirmed these divergent CNEs alter regulatory activity, providing a direct link between non-coding genomic changes, gene expression modulation, and a recurrent morphological trait shaped by natural selection.
Why it might matter to you: This work offers a powerful framework for connecting non-coding regulatory evolution to complex phenotypic traits, a central challenge in functional genomics. For researchers studying hereditary diseases or polygenic traits influenced by regulatory variants, it demonstrates a methodology for pinpointing how specific changes in conserved elements can alter developmental pathways. The findings underscore that understanding adaptation—and by extension, disease susceptibility—requires looking beyond protein-coding sequences to the regulatory landscape that controls them.
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