Piercing fishes: porin expansion and adaptation to hematophagy in the vampire snail Cumia reticulata
Cytolytic pore-forming proteins are widespread in living organisms, being mostly involved in both sides of the host-pathogen interaction, either contributing to the innate defence or promoting infection. In venomous organisms, such as spiders, insects, scorpions and sea anemones, pore-forming proteins are often secreted as key components of the venom. Coluporins are pore-forming proteins recently discovered in the Mediterranean hematophagous snail Cumia reticulata (Colubrariidae), highly expressed in the salivary glands that discharge their secretion at close contact with the host.