be explored. Darwin claims to have agonized over the evolution of the eye and much is made of the actual ease of its evolution in terms of dioptrics. Less often is it remembered that the hallmarks of any eye, its transparency and transduction mechanisms, depend on proteins (respectively crystallins and opsins) that evolved long before there were any eyes. And this molecular inherency underpins ...

UNLABELLED In spite of its small territory of ~50,000km(2), Costa Rica harbors a remarkably rich biodiversity. Its herpetofauna includes 138 species of snakes, of which sixteen pit vipers (family Viperidae, subfamily Crotalinae), five coral snakes (family Elapidae, subfamily Elapinae), and one sea snake (Family Elapidae, subfamily Hydrophiinae) pose potential hazards to human and animal health....

BACKGROUND The early evolution and diversification of Hox-related genes in eumetazoans has been the subject of conflicting hypotheses concerning the evolutionary conservation of their role in axial patterning and the pre-bilaterian origin of the Hox and ParaHox clusters. The diversification of Hox/ParaHox genes clearly predates the origin of bilaterians. However, the existence of a "Hox code" p...

Electrophoretic pattern of Bothrops alternatus, B.neuwiedi, B. ammodytoides, B. jararaca and B. jararacussu of Argentina by SDS-Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis was carried out. Venoms used in this study came from animals (including juvenile) which live in different geographical zones. Special care was taken to not have cross-contamination of samples with blood and tissue fluids. All the snak...

Background: Snakes have always attracted scientists and it caused awe fear because of the harmful strength its toxins components various from one snake to another. In 2017, World Health Organization (WHO) listed venom as a neglected high-priority disease, with snakes causing up 2.7 million venomous bites, nearly 100,000 victims, three times number human disabilities. Objective: i- Snake backgro...