ReviewToxins2016
A Tricky Trait: Applying the Fruits of the "Function Debate" in the Philosophy of Biology to the "Venom Debate" in the Science of Toxinology.
Review in Toxins, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed.
- Toxin data quality: a critical examination of bacterial exotoxins and animal toxins.BMC research notes · 2025Article
- Snakebite envenoming in India: it is time we look beyond the concept of the Big Four species.Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene · 2025Review
- Bite First, Bleed Later: How PhilippineToxins · 2025Article
- Review
- Where the "ruber" Meets the Road: Using the Genome of the Red Diamond Rattlesnake to Unravel the Evolutionary Processes Driving Venom Evolution.Genome biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Article
- High-Voltage Toxin'Roll: Electrostatic Charge Repulsion as a Dynamic Venom Resistance Trait in Pythonid Snakes.Toxins · 2024Article
- Article
- Highly Evolvable: Investigating Interspecific and Intraspecific Venom Variation in Taipans (Toxins · 2023Article
- Review
- Role of Phospholipases AFrontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- Causes and Consequences of Snake Venom Variation.Trends in pharmacological sciences · 2020Review
- How the Toxin got its Toxicity.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2020Article
- Varanid Lizard Venoms Disrupt the Clotting Ability of Human Fibrinogen through Destructive Cleavage.Toxins · 2019Article
- Three-Finger Toxin Diversification in the Venoms of Cat-Eye Snakes (Colubridae: Boiga).Journal of molecular evolution · 2018Article
- Tick Paralysis: Solving an Enigma.Veterinary sciences · 2018Review
- Enter the Dragon: The Dynamic and Multifunctional Evolution of Anguimorpha Lizard Venoms.Toxins · 2017Article
- Article
- Rapid Radiations and the Race to Redundancy: An Investigation of the Evolution of Australian Elapid Snake Venoms.Toxins · 2016Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The "function debate" in the philosophy of biology and the "venom debate" in the science of toxinology are conceptually related. Venom systems are complex multifunctional traits that have evolved independently numerous times throughout the animal kingdom. No single concept of function, amongst those popularly defended, appears adequate to describe these systems in all their evolutionary contexts and extant variations. As such, a pluralistic view of function, previously defended by some philosophers of biology, is most appropriate. Venom systems, like many other functional traits, exist in nature as points on a continuum and the boundaries between "venomous" and "non-venomous" species may not always be clearly defined. This paper includes a brief overview of the concept of function, followed by in-depth discussion of its application to venom systems. A sound understanding of function may aid in moving the venom debate forward. Similarly, consideration of a complex functional trait such as venom may be of interest to philosophers of biology.
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Registered trials
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