VenoMS—A Website for the Low Molecular Mass Compounds in Spider Venoms

Forster, Yvonne; Reusser, Silvan; Forster, Florian; Bienz, Stefan; Bigler, Laurent

doi:10.3390/metabo10080327

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…A database of low molecular weight toxins in spider venom, named “VenoMS”, was developed and contained information about their origin, structure, biological activity, and the linked literature. Data regarding spider polyamine and derivatives under mass spectrometry (MS) analysis are also available, with acylpolyamines listed under their generic names [ 32 ]. Such generic nomenclature was intended to uniformize the names of polyamine toxins.…”

Section: Acylpolyamines In the Venom Of Spiders And Waspmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spider and Wasp Acylpolyamines: Venom Components and Versatile Pharmacological Leads, Probes, and Insecticidal Agents

Rádis-Baptista,

Konno

2024

Toxins

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Polyamines (PAs) are polycationic biogenic amines ubiquitously present in all life forms and are involved in molecular signaling and interaction, determining cell fate (e.g., cell proliferation, dif-ferentiation, and apoptosis). The intricate balance in the PAs’ levels in the tissues will determine whether beneficial or detrimental effects will affect homeostasis. It’s crucial to note that endoge-nous polyamines, like spermine and spermidine, play a pivotal role in our understanding of neu-rological disorders as they interact with membrane receptors and ion channels, modulating neuro-transmission. In spiders and wasps, monoamines (histamine, dopamine, serotonin, tryptamine) and polyamines (spermine, spermidine, acyl polyamines) comprise, with peptides and other sub-stances, the low molecular weight fraction of the venom. Acylpolyamines are venom components exclusively from spiders and a species of solitary wasp, which cause inhibition chiefly of iono-tropic glutamate receptors (AMPA, NMDA, and KA iGluRs) and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). The first venom acylpolyamines ever discovered (argiopines, Joro and Nephila toxins, and philanthotoxins) have provided templates for the design and synthesis of numerous analogs. Thus far, analogs with high potency exert their effect at nanomolar concentrations, with high se-lectivity toward their ionotropic and ligand receptors. These potent and selective acylpolyamine analogs can serve biomedical purposes and pest control management. The structural modification of acylpolyamine with photolabile and fluorescent groups converted these venom toxins into use-ful molecular probes to discriminate iGluRs and nAchRs in cell populations. In various cases, the linear polyamines, like spermine and spermidine, constituting venom acyl polyamine backbones, have served as cargoes to deliver active molecules via a polyamine uptake system on diseased cells for targeted therapy. In this review, we examined examples of biogenic amines that play an essential role in neural homeostasis and cell signaling, contributing to human health and disease outcomes, which can be present in the venom of arachnids and hymenopterans. With an empha-sis on the spider and wasp venom acylpolyamines, we focused on the origin, structure, derivatiza-tion, and biomedical and biotechnological application of these pharmacologically attractive, chemically modular venom components.

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Section: Acylpolyamines In the Venom Of Spiders And Waspmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, the nomenclature designates the acyl polyamine’s head, tail, amino acid linkers, and the methylene units in the polyamine backbones between the amino groups. For instance, the generic name of PA-366 is 4-OH-PhLac343 [ 32 , 33 ].…”

Section: Acylpolyamines In the Venom Of Spiders And Waspmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spider and Wasp Acylpolyamines: Venom Components and Versatile Pharmacological Leads, Probes, and Insecticidal Agents

Rádis-Baptista,

Konno

2024

Toxins

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“…There are several classes of abundant small‐molecule components in spider venoms (Forster et al ., 2020). One important group, described as neurotransmitters in other animals, include serotonin, octopamine, 5‐hydroxytryptamine, 5‐methoxytryptamine, histamine, tyramine, γ‐aminobutyric acid, aspartic acid and glutamic acid (McCormick & Meinwald, 1993).…”

Section: The Venom System Of Spidersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The biology and evolution of spider venoms

et al. 2021

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Spiders are diverse, predatory arthropods that have inhabited Earth for around 400 million years. They are well known for their complex venom systems that are used to overpower their prey. Spider venoms contain many proteins and peptides with highly specific and potent activities suitable for biomedical or agrochemical applications, but the key role of venoms as an evolutionary innovation is often overlooked, even though this has enabled spiders to emerge as one of the most successful animal lineages. In this review, we discuss these neglected biological aspects of spider venoms. We focus on the morphology of spider venom systems, their major components, biochemical and chemical plasticity, as well as ecological and evolutionary trends. We argue that the effectiveness of spider venoms is due to their unprecedented complexity, with diverse components working synergistically to increase the overall potency. The analysis of spider venoms is difficult to standardize because they are dynamic systems, fine‐tuned and modified by factors such as sex, life‐history stage and biological role. Finally, we summarize the mechanisms that drive spider venom evolution and highlight the need for genome‐based studies to reconstruct the evolutionary history and physiological networks of spider venom compounds with more certainty.

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“…Thus, spiders play an important ecological role in keeping insect populations at bay [ 14 ]. To enable spiders to overcome diverse types of prey, their venom comprises a complex mixture of active biological components, including proteins, peptides, acylpolyamines, small amines, histamine, and other small molecules [ 12 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Peptides are the most abundant components in their venom, with cysteine-rich peptides being the most important functional component [ 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Novel Mosquitocidal Peptides Isolated from the Venom of the Bahia Scarlet Tarantula (Lasiodora klugi)

Ahmed

Walker

Perdomo

et al. 2023

Toxins

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Effective control of diseases transmitted by Aedes aegypti is primarily achieved through vector control by chemical insecticides. However, the emergence of insecticide resistance in A. aegypti undermines current control efforts. Arachnid venoms are rich in toxins with activity against dipteran insects and we therefore employed a panel of 41 spider and 9 scorpion venoms to screen for mosquitocidal toxins. Using an assay-guided fractionation approach, we isolated two peptides from the venom of the tarantula Lasiodora klugi with activity against adult A. aegypti. The isolated peptides were named U-TRTX-Lk1a and U-TRTX-Lk2a and comprised 41 and 49 residues with monoisotopic masses of 4687.02 Da and 5718.88 Da, respectively. U-TRTX-Lk1a exhibited an LD50 of 38.3 pmol/g when injected into A. aegypti and its modeled structure conformed to the inhibitor cystine knot motif. U-TRTX-Lk2a has an LD50 of 45.4 pmol/g against adult A. aegypti and its predicted structure conforms to the disulfide-directed β-hairpin motif. These spider-venom peptides represent potential leads for the development of novel control agents for A. aegypti.

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VenoMS—A Website for the Low Molecular Mass Compounds in Spider Venoms

Cited by 10 publications

References 40 publications

Spider and Wasp Acylpolyamines: Venom Components and Versatile Pharmacological Leads, Probes, and Insecticidal Agents

Spider and Wasp Acylpolyamines: Venom Components and Versatile Pharmacological Leads, Probes, and Insecticidal Agents

The biology and evolution of spider venoms

Two Novel Mosquitocidal Peptides Isolated from the Venom of the Bahia Scarlet Tarantula (Lasiodora klugi)

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