Venom gland transcriptomics for identifying, cataloging, and characterizing venom proteins in snakes

Brahma, Rajeev Kungur; McCleary, Ryan J.R.; Kini, R. Manjunatha; Doley, Robin

doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2014.10.022

Cited by 73 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 122 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Phosphatases are the enzymes that hydrolyze phosphate esters non-specifically and ubiquitously present in the venom of various poisonous animals, such as snake, spider, wasp and so on [5,64,65]. The toxinological properties of phosphatases in venoms have been less characterized, but, recently, there have been some reports suggesting that these enzymes in snake venom could either endogenously liberate purines, which act as a multitoxin, or synergistically act with other toxins, contributing to the overall lethal effects of the venoms [52].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcriptome Analysis to Understand the Toxicity of Latrodectus tredecimguttatus Eggs

Wang

2016

Toxins

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Latrodectus tredecimguttatus is a kind of highly venomous black widow spider, with toxicity coming from not only venomous glands but also other parts of its body as well as newborn spiderlings and eggs. Up to date, although L. tredecimguttatus eggs have been demonstrated to be rich in proteinaceous toxins, there is no systematic investigation on such active components at transcriptome level. In this study, we performed a high-throughput transcriptome sequencing of L. tredecimguttatus eggs with Illumina sequencing technology. As a result, 53,284 protein-coding unigenes were identified, of which 14,185 unigenes produced significant hits in the available databases, including 280 unigenes encoding proteins or peptides homologous to known proteinaceous toxins. GO term and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses of the 280 unigenes showed that 375 GO terms and 18 KEGG pathways were significantly enriched. Functional analysis indicated that these unigene-coded toxins have the bioactivities to degrade tissue proteins, inhibit ion channels, block neuromuscular transmission, provoke anaphylaxis, induce apoptosis and hyperalgesia, etc. No known typical proteinaceous toxins in L. tredecimguttatus venomous glands, such as latrotoxins, were identified, suggesting that the eggs have a different toxicity mechanism from that of the venom. Our present transcriptome analysis not only helps to reveal the gene expression profile and toxicity mechanism of the L. tredecimguttatus eggs, but also provides references for the further related researches.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcriptome Analysis to Understand the Toxicity of Latrodectus tredecimguttatus Eggs

Wang

2016

Toxins

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Although a number of snake venom gland transcriptomes have been characterized and are accessible in databases (for review, see Brahma et al, 2015) studies concerning gene expression in other tissues are scarce and only recently became available (Castoe et al, 2011; Schwartz et al, 2010). However, none of these studies focused on the quantitative analysis of inhibitors that might be involved on venom neutralization, with comparison of adult and juvenile profile.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential transcript profile of inhibitors with potential anti-venom role in the liver of juvenile and adultBothrops jararacasnake

Gomes

Buarque

et al. 2017

PeerJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

BackgroundSnakes belonging to the Bothrops genus are vastly distributed in Central and South America and are responsible for most cases of reported snake bites in Latin America. The clinical manifestations of the envenomation caused by this genus are due to three major activities—proteolytic, hemorrhagic and coagulant—mediated by metalloproteinases, serine proteinases, phospholipases A2 and other toxic compounds present in snake venom. Interestingly, it was observed that snakes are resistant to the toxic effects of its own and other snake’s venoms. This natural immunity may occur due the absence of toxin target or the presence of molecules in the snake plasma able to neutralize such toxins.MethodsIn order to identify anti-venom molecules, we construct a cDNA library from the liver of B. jararaca snakes. Moreover, we analyzed the expression profile of four molecules—the already known anti-hemorrhagic factor Bj46a, one gamma-phospholipase A2 inhibitor, one inter-alpha inhibitor and one C1 plasma protease inhibitor—in the liver of juvenile and adult snakes by qPCR.ResultsThe results revealed a 30-fold increase of gamma-phospholipase A2 inhibitor and a minor increase of the inter-alpha inhibitor (5-fold) and of the C1 inhibitor (3-fold) in adults. However, the Bj46a factor seems to be equally transcribed in adults and juveniles.DiscussionThe results suggest the up-regulation of different inhibitors observed in the adult snakes might be a physiological adaptation to the recurrent contact with their own and even other snake’s venoms throughout its lifespan. This is the first comparative analysis of ontogenetic variation of expression profiles of plasmatic proteins with potential anti-venom activities of the venomous snake B. jararaca. Furthermore, the present data contributes to the understanding of the natural resistance described in these snakes.

show abstract

“…Moreover, the lack of species-specific venom sequence databases hampers proteomic studies on most snake venoms [4]. To a certain degree, this is being addressed by the production of snake venom gland transcriptome databases [14]. The purpose of the work reported here was to use the venomics workflow developed in our laboratory [13,15,16] and the non-redundant species-specific reference database, the fullest described to date [17][18][19][20], for the in-depth characterization of the venom of Crotalus adamanteus as proof-of-concept of how far the limits of bottom-up venomics can be pushed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Constructing comprehensive venom proteome reference maps for integrative venomics

Eichberg

Sanz

Calvete

et al. 2015

Expert Review of Proteomics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Venom gland transcriptomics for identifying, cataloging, and characterizing venom proteins in snakes

Cited by 73 publications

References 122 publications

Transcriptome Analysis to Understand the Toxicity of Latrodectus tredecimguttatus Eggs

Transcriptome Analysis to Understand the Toxicity of Latrodectus tredecimguttatus Eggs

Differential transcript profile of inhibitors with potential anti-venom role in the liver of juvenile and adultBothrops jararacasnake

Constructing comprehensive venom proteome reference maps for integrative venomics

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About