Feb. 2, 2006 It's a case of evolutionary detective work. Biology
researchers at Lewis & Clark College and the University of
Arizona have found evidence for an ancient transfer of a toxin
between ancestors of two very dissimilar organisms--spiders and
a bacterium. But the mystery remains as how the toxin passed
between the two organisms. Their research is published this
month in the journal Bioinformatics, 22(3): 264-268, in an
article titled "Lateral gene transfer of a dermonecrotic toxin
between spiders and bacteria." "We are piecing together an
historical puzzle with evidence from living descendants of an
ancient ancestor," said Greta Binford, assistant professor of
biology at Lewis & Clark. Her coresearcher on the project is
Matthew Cordes, assistant professor of biochemistry and
molecular biophysics at the University of Arizona. The toxin is
uniquely found in the venom cocktail of brown or violin spiders,
including the brown recluse, and in some Corynebacteria. The
toxin from the spider's venom can kill f