How pythons regenerate their organs and other secrets of the snake genome

(University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center) Snakes exhibit incredible evolutionary adaptations, including the ability to rapidly regenerate their organs and produce venom. The Castoe group at the University of Texas at Arlington studied these adaptations using genetic sequencing and advanced computing. Supercomputers of the Texas Advanced Computing Center helped the team identify a number of genes associated with organ growth in Burmese pythons, study secondary contact in related rattlesnake species, and develop tools to recognize evolutionary changes caused by natural selection.
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: news