Disciplina: Inglês 0 Curtidas

According to the information in the article, a) contrary to - FGV 2016

CHEMICAL WARFARE

1 Venoms, the debilitating chemical cocktails animals unleash to defend themselves or obtain a meal, are subject to an evolutionary arms race. Those creatures that are targets of toxins eventually develop beneficial mutations, granting them some degree of resistance. In response, animals that emit venoms undergo changes so their poisons remain effective.
2 This action-reaction narrative of venom evolution is incomplete, however, as evolutionary biologists Kartik Sunagar and Yehu Moran of Hebrew University in Jerusalem have shown in a new study. They realized that many venom studies have focused on snakes and cone snails — comparatively "young" animal groups, evolutionarily speaking, only going back roughly 50 million years. Over these groups’ histories, their venomous arsenals have expanded considerably, bolstering the arms race analogy, also known as positive, or Darwinian, selection.
3 Sunagar and Moran cast a wider net, looking at over 3,500 gene families for venom production in newer and older animal groups. The ancient animal types included spiders, scorpions, centipedes, octopus, squid, jellyfish, and sea anemones.
4 The scientists found that these ancient animals exhibited surprisingly low levels of genetic variation in their venoms. Sunagar and Moran reasoned that the venoms of primordial creatures had undergone substantial negative, or purifying, selection — evolutionary pressure to keep their potently optimized toxins roughly the same. “Negative selection filters out certain mutations that alter structure or function,” explained Moran. For species in long-established ecological niches, it makes sense to maintain what works.
5 Evolution does favor more radical experimentation, though, when creatures enter new habitats and begin adapting to the novel environment. As they find their place in local food chains, venomous animals’ toxic pharmacopeia should undergo rapid diversification — the better to catch strange new prey and withstand the attacks of previously unencountered predators. Yet over time, these adapting species settle into tried-and-true formulae.
6 The researchers call this model of venom evolution “two-speed,” with the venoms of old species evolving slowly and those of the new species evolving quickly. “Our analysis of numerous toxin families, covering the ample scope of the animal kingdom, has revealed a striking contrast between the evolution of venom in ancient and evolutionarily young animal groups,” said Sunagar.

Adapted from Natural History, February 2016.

According to the information in the article,

1. contrary to what scientists originally believed, most of the organisms involved in the evolutionary arms race have a simple rather than complex structure.

2. Darwinian selection applies not only to the evolution of certain venom-producing animals but also to the evolution of the targets of that venom.

3. because of negative selection, abrupt changes in longestablished ecological niches can be severely damaging to certain ancient venom-producing animal groups.

4. because their venoms cannot evolve quickly, ancient venom-producing animal groups rarely establish themselves in new habitats.

5. recent studies indicate that the “two-speed” model of venom evolution does not adequately explain how and why animal groups produce new types of venoms.

Solução

Institução: FGV

Ano da Prova: 2016

Assuntos: Interpretação Textual em Inglês

Vídeo Sugerido: YouTube