New findings from the first transcriptome of the Bothrops moojeni snake venom gland

Abstract

Snakebites are a serious health problem in tropical countries. In Brazil, the genus Bothrops (Viperidae family) causes most of the ophidic accidents, characterized by proteolysis and haemorrhage. Snake venoms are rich sources of toxins with great therapeutic and biotechnological potential and omics approaches is a valuable tool for identification of new bioactive components in the venom. In this study, we described the first transcriptome of the venom gland of Bothrops moojeni snake, using the next-generation sequencing with the Illumina platform. We identified: (i) 20 venom components classes, among which metalloproteases were the most expressed ones, followed by serine proteases and phospholipases; and (ii) the 33 full-length amino acid sequences of toxins that have never been reported before in B. moojeni venom, such as one cysteine-rich secretory protein (Moojin), two hyaluronidases (BmooHyal-1 and BmooHyal-2), and one three-finger toxin (Bmoo-3FTx). Altogether, the transcripts identified herein represent a starting point for the analysis of structure-function relationships of toxins, which shall help develop novel biological tools and therapeutic drugs.

Proteopeptidomic, Functional and Immunoreactivity Characterization of Bothrops moojeni Snake Venom: Influence of Snake Gender on Venom Composition

“…The hyaluronidase exclusively found in BmooM venom shared similarity with the enzyme from Agkistrodon contortrix venom. This finding confirms the previous report on the presence of hyaluronidase in the transcriptome of B. moojeni snake venom gland [ 29 ], and may explain the higher hyaluronidase activity of BmooM venom.…”

“…There are few reports on detection of phospholipases B in snake venoms, which is considered a minor snake venom protein [ 39 ]. This is the first report on the expression of phospholipase B in B. moojeni venom, which corroborates our previous report about its expression in the transcriptome of B. moojeni venom gland [ 29 ].…”

“…BmooF venom contained two exclusive cysteine-rich secretory proteins (CRISPs) (coverage: 28.3% and 26.6%) ( Supplementary Materials Table S4 ), corroborating the findings from the transcriptome of B. moojeni snake venom gland [ 29 ]. CRISPs exist in venom from several snake species, but their biological activities have not been fully understood.…”

“…The correlation between mRNA and protein levels is well-documented and has been attributed to differences in translational efficacy, codon usage/bias, and mRNA versus protein stability [ 46 ]. This fact may explain why some transcripts detected in the full-length sequences of the transcriptome of B. moojeni venom gland [ 29 ] were not identified in the present proteomics study. However, both studies found similar patterns of venom composition, especially for metalloproteinases, serine proteases, and phospholipases.…”

“…Although the proteomics profile of venoms from more than 200 snake species has already been described [ 10 ], there are no reports on proteomics studies with B. moojeni snake venom. Our research team has recently reported the transcriptomics analysis of B. moojeni snake venom gland [ 29 ]. To date, there are no studies that examined how sexual dimorphism can affect B. moojeni snake venom composition.…”