Transcriptome analysis of Loxosceles laeta (Araneae, Sicariidae) spider venomous gland using expressed sequence tags

Abstract

Background: The bite of spiders belonging to the genus Loxosceles can induce a variety of clinical symptoms, including dermonecrosis, thrombosis, vascular leakage, haemolysis, and persistent inflammation. In order to examine the transcripts expressed in venom gland of Loxosceles laeta spider and to unveil the potential of its products on cellular structure and functional aspects, we generated 3,008 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from a cDNA library.

Modulation of Conotoxin Structure and Function Is Achieved through a Multienzyme Complex in the Venom Glands of Cone Snails

“…Based on the contribution of PDI, PPI B, and BiP to conotoxin folding and the existence of a PDI-BiP complex in venom glandular cells, it may be hypothesized that this proposed ER network has been utilized by cone snails for toxin assembly for more than 55 million years and has remained conserved throughout evolution. Notably, high expression levels of PDI, BiP, and PPI were also found in the venom glands of snakes and wasps, animals that secrete disulfide-rich peptides as part of their venoms (45)(46)(47). The existence of multienzyme folding complexes in the venom glands of these and other venomous animals has not been investigated.…”

Venom components from Citharischius crawshayi spider (Family Theraphosidae): exploring transcriptome, venomics, and function

“…Some mass fingerprinting and proteomic analyses have been reported from spider venoms: Pterinochilus murinus [6]; Loxosceles gaucho [7]; Lasiodora parahybana [8]; Chilobrachys jinzhao [9]; Ornithoctonus huwena [10] and the recent comparison of peptidomes of the theraphosid Coremiocnemis tropix, Selenocosmia crassipes, Selenotholus foelschei, Brachipelma albiceps, B. hamorri and the Australian funnel-web spider Hadronyche infesa [11]. Nevertheless, the number of transcriptome references is still limited to: Chilobrachys jingzhao [12,13]; Loxosceles laeta [14]; Ornithoctonus huwena [15]; Aphonopelma sp. [16] and Lycosa singoriensis [17].…”

Spider Transcriptomes from Venom Glands: Molecular Diversity of Ion Channel Toxins and Antimicrobial Peptide Transcripts

“…In some cases, the proteomic approach showed a high number of peptide molecular masses compared to the obtained number of toxin-like transcripts (e.g., H. schmidti, Jiang et al 2008a;Jiang et al 2010). On the other hand, several transcripts that theoretically express a mature peptide toxin have not been complemented with the expected experimental mass in the spider venom (e.g., L. laeta, Fernandes-Pedrosa et al 2008).…”

“…The Brazilian group of Denise Tambourgi reported Loxosceles laeta (Fernandes-Pedrosa et al 2008) and by the group of Silvio Sanches L. intermedia (Gremski et al 2010). Transcriptome of the African spider Citharischius crawshayi (also named Pelinobius muticus) was explored in Belgium by Jan Tytgat and Elia Diego-Garcia (Diego-Garcia et al 2010).…”