All specimens used for sequencing and experimentation were collected from Yunnan Province, China. All vouchers are stored in the Herpetological Museum of the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.
For the TEM experiments, two fresh skin samples (1cm×1cm) per color morph from the Asian vine snake were collected. The samples were then cut into small pieces (1 mm3) in fixative. The tissue blocks were transferred to an Eppendorf tube with fresh TEM fixative for further fixation, then washed using 0.1 M PB (pH 7.4) three times (15 min each). The samples were dehydrated in an increasing ethanol series at room temperature, followed by two changes of acetone and transfer to resin for embedding. The resin blocks were cut to 60–80-nm slices on an ultra-microtome (Leica, UC7), and the ultra-thin sections were put onto the 150-mesh cuprum grids. The cuprum grids were then stained with 2% uranium acetate-saturated alcohol solution and 2.6% lead citrate, respectively. Finally, the cuprum grids were observed under a TEM (Hitachi, HT7800/HT7700) and imaged.
For the TEM experiments, two fresh skin samples (1cm×1cm) per color morph from the Asian vine snake were collected. The samples were then cut into small pieces (1 mm3) in fixative. The tissue blocks were transferred to an Eppendorf tube with fresh TEM fixative for further fixation, then washed using 0.1 M PB (pH 7.4) three times (15 min each). The samples were dehydrated in an increasing ethanol series at room temperature, followed by two changes of acetone and transfer to resin for embedding. The resin blocks were cut to 60–80-nm slices on an ultra-microtome (Leica, UC7), and the ultra-thin sections were put onto the 150-mesh cuprum grids. The cuprum grids were then stained with 2% uranium acetate-saturated alcohol solution and 2.6% lead citrate, respectively. Finally, the cuprum grids were observed under a TEM (Hitachi, HT7800/HT7700) and imaged.
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