Illustrating the Evolution of Toxins within Cnidarian

The aim of this study was to illustrate the breadth of venom evolution in cnidarians and to determine if venom toxins have been co-opted and modified for parasitic lifestyles. Samples representing cnidarian taxa with entirely parasitic life cycles (myxozoans), entirely free-living life cycles, and a life cycle containing both parasitic and free-living stages (P. hydriforme). were obtained for analysis, which comprised of comparative transcriptomics, proteomics and the use of a custom bioinformatics pipeline developed to screen and identify toxins within these datasets.