Ant venoms

Hoffman, Donald R.

doi:10.1097/aci.0b013e328339f325

Cited by 88 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(48 reference statements)

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“…Among the more noticeable of these chemicals are their venoms, which they use for defense, food acquisition, and communication (Schmidt, 1982;Hölldobler and Wilson, 1990). Studies of ant venoms have shown them to be both chemically and pharmacologically diverse (Schmidt, 1986;Blum, 1988;Piek et al, 1991;Zelezetsky et al, 2005;Hoffman, 2010), as well as potentially medically useful (Altman et al, 1984;Piek et al, 1991;Zelezetsky et al, 2005;Dkhil et al, 2010;Badr et al, 2012). Though the chemical properties and activities of ant venoms have been addressed in many studies, basic venom-related physiological questions have received less attention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Patterns of venom production and temporal polyethism in workers of Jerdon’s jumping ant, Harpegnathos saltator

Haight

2012

Journal of Insect Physiology

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Patterns of venom production and temporal polyethism in workers of Jerdon’s jumping ant, Harpegnathos saltator

Haight

2012

Journal of Insect Physiology

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“…Some toxins are important sources of pharmacological and therapeutic molecules because of their high specificity and potency to act on a number of molecular targets. More than 98 % of venom components are found in arthropods, which are completely unknown [35]. Most studies on venom composition mainly focus on the biochemical properties of specific venom rather than its genomic expression, protein expression reveals the biological processes within the venom glands, and also provides clues to the study of the immune system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Production of antibacterial peptide from bee venom via a new strategy for heterologous expression

et al. 2014

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Honey bee is important economic insect that not only pollinates fruits and crops but also provides products with various physiological activities. Bee venom is a functional agent that is widely applied in clinical treatment and pharmacy. Secapin is one of these agents that have a significant role in therapy. The functions of secapin from the bee venom have been documented, but little information is known about its heterologous expression under natural condition. Moreover, few scholars verified experimentally the functions of secapin from bee venom in vitro. In this study, we successfully constructed a heterologous expression vector, which is different from conventional expression system. A transgenic approach was established for transformation of secapin gene from the venom of Apis mellifera carnica (Ac-sec) into the edible fungi, Coprinus cinereus. Ac-sec was encoded by a 234 bp nucleotide that contained a signal peptide domain and two potential phosphorylation sites. The sequence exhibited highly homology with various secapins characterized from honey bee and related species. Southern blot data indicated that Ac-sec was present as single or multiple copy loci in the C. cinereus genome. By co-transformation and double-layer active assay, Ac-sec was expressed successfully in C. cinereus and the antibacterial activity of the recombinants was identified, showing notable antibacterial activities on different bacteria. Although Ac-sec is from the venom of Apidae, phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that Ac-sec was more closely related to that of Vespid than to bee species from Apidae. The molecular characteristics of Ac-sec and the potential roles of small peptides in biology were discussed.

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“…It also emerged that CRD can be helpful to discriminate between Vespula vulgaris and Polistes dominula allergy, provided that the Antigen 5 (Ves v 5, Pol d 5) and phospholipases (Ves v 1, Pol d 1) of both vespid species are used [80]. Despite the identification and expression of various venom allergen compounds of the fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), jack jumper ant (Myrmecia pilosula), and the Chinese needle ant (Pachycondyla chinensis) [81], to our knowledge, no readily available component-specific assays have been developed hitherto.…”

Section: Hymenoptera Venom Allergymentioning

confidence: 98%

Molecular allergy diagnosis: Status anno 2015

Gasse

Mangodt

Faber

et al. 2015

Clinica Chimica Acta

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IgE antibodies play a key role in type I allergic reactions. Today, different in vitro immunoassays for allergen-specific IgE antibodies are available. However, some major issues should be taken into account for correct interpretation of specific IgE (sIgE) antibody results, as these assays do not demonstrate absolute positive and negative predictive values. Therefore, additional diagnostic tests are needed to make the correct diagnosis. During the last two decades significant progress in biochemistry and molecular biology enabled the detection and quantification of sIgE antibodies to allergen protein components and epitope-emulating peptides, also called molecular allergy diagnosis or component resolved diagnosis (CRD). In contrast to conventional sIgE antibody assays, molecular allergy diagnosis makes it possible to discriminate between genuine allergy and merely sensitisation, to establish personalized sensitization patterns and to assess the individual risk of severity of an allergic reaction and finally it helps us to predict the natural course. In this review the use of CRD in inhalant, food, latex and hymenoptera venom allergy will be discussed. The primary focus will be on the most relevant clinical applications of CRD rather than to describe all the currently available allergen components and epitopes. Appropriate experience of our own research group is provided.

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Ant venoms

Abstract: Ants share some common proteins in venoms, but each group appears to have a number of possibly unique components. Further proteomic studies should expand and clarify our knowledge of these fascinating animals.

Cited by 88 publications

References 44 publications

Patterns of venom production and temporal polyethism in workers of Jerdon’s jumping ant, Harpegnathos saltator

Patterns of venom production and temporal polyethism in workers of Jerdon’s jumping ant, Harpegnathos saltator

Production of antibacterial peptide from bee venom via a new strategy for heterologous expression

Molecular allergy diagnosis: Status anno 2015

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