A Wolf in Another Wolf’s Clothing: Post-Genomic Regulation Dictates Venom Profiles of Medically-Important Cryptic Kraits in India

Sunagar, Kartik; Khochare, Suyog; Laxme, R. R. Senji; Attarde, Saurabh; Dam, Paulomi; Suranse, Vivek; Khaire, Anil; Martin, Gerard; Captain, Ashok

doi:10.3390/toxins13010069

Cited by 18 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 65 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Two studies (Choudhury et al, 2017;Sunagar et al, 2021), compared the venoms of the common krait Bungarus caeruleus and produced different results for venom diversity. The major difference in methodology between the two studies was in protein identification from MS data.…”

Section: Increased Protein Identification By Using a Species-specific...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Venom proteomes of snakes have been published with increasing frequency since 2004 (Juárez et al, 2004), with a review published in late 2017 of 132 snake species characterised up to that point (Tasoulis and Isbister, 2017). Individual snake venoms consist of three to approximately 20 different recognised toxin protein families (Sanz et al, 2019;Calvette et al, 2021;Sunagar et al, 2021), made up from a total pool of 57 protein families so far reported in published snake venom proteomes. This total includes a number of regulatory proteins and low abundance protein families of unknown functional or biological significance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A further six secondary protein families make up most of the remaining composition of snake venoms and include; cysteinerich secretory protein (CRiSP), kuntiz peptides (KUN), L-amino acid oxidase (LAO), natriuretic peptides (NP), C-type lectins (CTL), and disintegrins (DIS) (Tasoulis and Isbister, 2017). Some of these protein families may contain up to 80 different toxins/ proteoforms in a single snake species (Tan et al, 2017;Giorgianni et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020;Sunagar et al, 2021). This amazing diversity of toxins present in some protein families, combined with their synteny and tandemly arrayed location on the genes, is most likely a result of multiple gene duplication events (Wong and Belov, 2012;Hargreaves et al, 2014;Giorgianni et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Investigating Toxin Diversity and Abundance in Snake Venom Proteomes

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding snake venom proteomes is becoming increasingly important to understand snake venom biology, evolution and especially clinical effects of venoms and approaches to antivenom development. To explore the current state of snake venom proteomics and transcriptomics we investigated venom proteomic methods, associations between methodological and biological variability and the diversity and abundance of protein families. We reviewed available studies on snake venom proteomes from September 2017 to April 2021. This included 81 studies characterising venom proteomes of 79 snake species, providing data on relative toxin abundance for 70 species and toxin diversity (number of different toxins) for 37 species. Methodologies utilised in these studies were summarised and compared. Several comparative studies showed that preliminary decomplexation of crude venom by chromatography leads to increased protein identification, as does the use of transcriptomics. Combining different methodological strategies in venomic approaches appears to maximize proteome coverage. 48% of studies used the RP-HPLC →1D SDS-PAGE →in-gel trypsin digestion → ESI -LC-MS/MS pathway. Protein quantification by MS1-based spectral intensity was used twice as commonly as MS2-based spectral counting (33–15 studies). Total toxin diversity was 25–225 toxins/species, with a median of 48. The relative mean abundance of the four dominant protein families was for elapids; 3FTx–52%, PLA2–27%, SVMP–2.8%, and SVSP–0.1%, and for vipers: 3FTx–0.5%, PLA2–24%, SVMP–27%, and SVSP–12%. Viper venoms were compositionally more complex than elapid venoms in terms of number of protein families making up most of the venom, in contrast, elapid venoms were made up of fewer, but more toxin diverse, protein families. No relationship was observed between relative toxin diversity and abundance. For equivalent comparisons to be made between studies, there is a need to clarify the differences between methodological approaches and for acceptance of a standardised protein classification, nomenclature and reporting procedure. Correctly measuring and comparing toxin diversity and abundance is essential for understanding biological, clinical and evolutionary implications of snake venom composition.

show abstract

Section: Increased Protein Identification By Using a Species-specific...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Investigating Toxin Diversity and Abundance in Snake Venom Proteomes

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…provide an instructive example of the effects of such dietary shifts and feeding specialisations on snake venoms. Kraits that chiefly feed on mammals secrete some of the most potent and medically important venoms to humans ( Sunagar et al, 2021 ) whereas those that specialize in feeding on reptiles possess venoms with greatly reduced toxicity to mammals ( Senji Laxme et al, 2019 ). Similar shifts in diet from mammals to arthropods ( Barlow et al, 2009 ; Senji Laxme et al, 2019 ), amphibians ( Hutchinson et al, 2007 ), birds ( Mackessy et al, 2006 ), and eggs of various animals ( Li et al, 2005 ) have significantly influenced the compositions and toxicities of snake venoms and, in some cases, their delivery systems.…”

Section: Snakebite and The “Ecological Stance”mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cryptic genetic divergence in clinically important species can be detrimental to snakebite therapy, as antivenoms raised against the venom of one lineage may not be efficient in neutralising toxin variants in genetically distinct snakes. The existence of cryptic evolutionary lineages within a single species, therefore, can have tremendous implications for snakebite treatment, as can the existence of phenotypic crypsis in distinct species with overlapping range-distributions ( Carbajal-Márquez et al, 2020 ; Sunagar et al, 2021 ). More infrequently, evolutionary convergence may result in cryptic lineages which are relatively inconsequential to snakebite therapy, given the convergence of venom composition along with the rest of the phenotype ( Ukuwela et al, 2012 ).…”

Section: Snakebite and The “Ecological Stance”mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mutual enlightenment: A toolbox of concepts and methods for integrating evolutionary and clinical toxinology via snake venomics and the contextual stance

et al. 2021

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Snakebite envenoming is a neglected tropical disease that may claim over 100,000 human lives annually worldwide. Snakebite occurs as the result of an interaction between a human and a snake that elicits either a defensive response from the snake or, more rarely, a feeding response as the result of mistaken identity. Snakebite envenoming is therefore a biological and, more specifically, an ecological problem. Snake venom itself is often described as a “cocktail”, as it is a heterogenous mixture of molecules including the toxins (which are typically proteinaceous) responsible for the pathophysiological consequences of envenoming. The primary function of venom in snake ecology is pre-subjugation, with defensive deployment of the secretion typically considered a secondary function. The particular composition of any given venom cocktail is shaped by evolutionary forces that include phylogenetic constraints associated with the snake's lineage and adaptive responses to the snake's ecological context, including the taxa it preys upon and by which it is predated upon. In the present article, we describe how conceptual frameworks from ecology and evolutionary biology can enter into a mutually enlightening relationship with clinical toxinology by enabling the consideration of snakebite envenoming from an “ecological stance”. We detail the insights that may emerge from such a perspective and highlight the ways in which the high-fidelity descriptive knowledge emerging from applications of -omics era technologies – “venomics” and “antivenomics” – can combine with evolutionary explanations to deliver a detailed understanding of this multifactorial health crisis.

show abstract