Meeting Abstract

68-1  Tuesday, Jan. 5 13:45  The tree’s the thing: phylogeny as a way of understanding the diversity of venom in sea anemones DALY, M*; MACRANDER, J.M.; BROE, M; The Ohio State University; The Ohio State University; The Ohio State University daly.66@osu.edu

Technological obstacles have largely been eliminated in the study of venom in non-model systems, allowing broad-scale characterization of the diversity and function of venom in diverse organisms. In these newly explored systems, phylogenetic perspective can prove especially illuminating, linking and extending previous studies and providing context and point of comparison in interpreting new data. Here we highlight the ways in which phylogenetic perspective has proven crucial to understanding the diversity and diversification of constituents of the venom arsenal of sea anemones (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Actiniaria).