Fig. 5From: Age-related association of venom gene expression and diet of predatory gastropodsPatterns of ontogenetic shifts of dietary diversities and levels of conotoxin gene expression. Average levels of expression of six conotoxin genes and dietary diversities are calculated with a sliding window approach (with window size of 5 mm in shell lengths). a Plot of dietary variables versus average shell lengths. Shannon’s index (H’), Gini-Simpson’s index (S), and average genetic distances (GD). The Y-axis on the left represents S and GD, whereas the Y-axis on the right represents H’. b Plot of relative levels of expression of six conotoxin loci EA1, ED20, E1, EA4, ED4, and ED8 versus shell lengths. The expression levels are centered and standardized. c Cross-correlation of conotoxin gene expression levels and dietary diversities through increasing shell lengths, using conotoxin locus ED8 and dietary variable H’ as an example. Cross-correlations of all conotoxin genes and dietary variables are illustrated in Additional file 1: Figure S5. Y-axis: correlation coefficient of two series; X-axis: lag in shell lengths of H’ in comparison to conotoxin gene expression; blue dashed lines: 95 % confidence intervals. d Linear regression of lag of expression levels of locus ED8 with the dietary variable H’ by a time period equivalent to 2 mm in shell lengths. Regression analyses of expression levels of all conotoxin genes and dietary variables are shown in Additional file 1: Figure S6Back to article page