Versatile spider venom peptides and their medical and agricultural applications

Saez, Natalie J.; Herzig, Volker

doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2018.11.298

Cited by 70 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 220 publications

(217 reference statements)

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“…Thus, new insecticides with novel modes of action are much sought after. Spiders are professional insect killers, and they are the most speciose venomous animal, and consequently their venoms have been intensively studied as a potential source of novel bioinsecticides [17,[217][218][219][220][221]. As a result, many insecticidal toxins have been isolated from spider venoms, including peptides, proteins and polyamines, but they mostly lack the necessary taxonomic selectivity to be useful as insecticides.…”

Section: Targeting Vectors Of Human Disease With Venom-derived Toxinsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal toxins — Nature’s evolutionary-refined toolkit for basic research and drug discovery

Herzig

Cristofori-Armstrong

Israel

et al. 2020

Biochemical Pharmacology

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122

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Venomous animals have evolved toxins that interfere with specific components of their victim's core physiological systems, thereby causing biological dysfunction that aids in prey capture, defense against predators, or other roles such as intraspecific competition. Many animal lineages evolved venom systems independently, highlighting the success of this strategy. Over the course of evolution, toxins with exceptional specificity and high potency for their intended molecular targets have prevailed, making venoms an invaluable and almost inexhaustible source of bioactive molecules, some of which have found use as pharmacological tools, human therapeutics, and bioinsecticides. Current biomedically-focused research on venoms is directed towards their use in delineating the physiological role of toxin molecular targets such as ion channels and receptors, studying or treating human diseases, targeting vectors of human diseases, and treating microbial and parasitic infections. We provide examples of each of these areas of venom research, highlighting the potential that venom molecules hold for basic research and drug development.

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Section: Targeting Vectors Of Human Disease With Venom-derived Toxinsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal toxins — Nature’s evolutionary-refined toolkit for basic research and drug discovery

Herzig

Cristofori-Armstrong

Israel

et al. 2020

Biochemical Pharmacology

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122

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“…Several blockbuster drugs have been derived from venom components (Holford et al, 2018), but they were also investigated as research tools, cosmetics, industrial enzymes or bioinsecticides (e.g. Duterte and Lewis, 2010;Pennington et al, 2018;Dongol et al, 2019;Saez and Herzig, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An economic dilemma between weapon systems may explain an arachno-atypical venom in wasp spiders (Argiope bruennichi)

Lueddecke

Reumont

Foerster

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Spiders use venom to subdue their prey, but little is known about the diversity of venoms in different spider families. Given the limited data available for orb-weaver spiders (Araneidae) we selected the wasp spider Argiope bruennichi for detailed analysis. Our strategy combined a transcriptomics pipeline based on multiple assemblies with a dual proteomics workflow involving parallel mass spectrometry techniques and electrophoretic profiling. We found that the remarkably simple venom of A. bruennichi has an atypical composition compared to other spider venoms, prominently featuring members of the CAP superfamily and other, mostly high-molecular-weight proteins. We also detected a subset of potentially novel toxins similar to neuropeptides. We discuss the potential function of these proteins in the context of the unique hunting behavior of wasp spiders, which rely mostly on silk to trap their prey. We propose that the simplicity of the venom evolved to solve an economic dilemma between two competing yet metabolically expensive weapon systems. This study emphasizes the importance of cutting-edge methods to encompass smaller lineages of venomous species that have yet to be characterized in detail, allowing us to understand the biology of their venom systems and to mine this prolific resource for translational research.

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“…The presence of the PSM is su cient to assume that the peptide has neurotoxical activity as it binds ion channels (4), which may give it pain-relief properties. Peptides like Huentoxin-XVI (Ornithoctonus huwena) and ProTx-II (Thrixopelma pruriens) interrupt nociception in various models, while peptides like Ph 1β and PnPP-19 from the venom of Phoneutria nigriventer are around 180 times more potent that ziconotide (11)(12)(13). Moreover, DBPs have potential in other pathologies like ischemic stroke, as shown by the peptide PcTx1 (Psalmopoeus cambridgei), in epilepsy, as shown by the peptide Hm3a (Heteroscrodra maculate), and in neurodegenerative diseases, as shown by the peptide PhKv (Phoneutria nigriventer) in Alzheimer's and Guangxitoxin-1E in Parkinson's models (12).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Peptides like Huentoxin-XVI (Ornithoctonus huwena) and ProTx-II (Thrixopelma pruriens) interrupt nociception in various models, while peptides like Ph 1β and PnPP-19 from the venom of Phoneutria nigriventer are around 180 times more potent that ziconotide (11)(12)(13). Moreover, DBPs have potential in other pathologies like ischemic stroke, as shown by the peptide PcTx1 (Psalmopoeus cambridgei), in epilepsy, as shown by the peptide Hm3a (Heteroscrodra maculate), and in neurodegenerative diseases, as shown by the peptide PhKv (Phoneutria nigriventer) in Alzheimer's and Guangxitoxin-1E in Parkinson's models (12). As a notable exception for a DBP peptide, Gomesin from Acanthoscurria gomesiana shows activity against gram positive and gram negative bacteria, fungi, yeast, malaria and leishmanial, while retaining anti cancerous activity in a murine melanoma model (14).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, some toxins display activity against microorganisms of clinical interest: the peptide Lycotoxin I from spiders of the genera Lycosa displays activity against Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and the peptide CIT1a from Lachesana tarabaevi displays activity against the yeast Chlamydia trachomatis (16). Furthermore, the peptide Lycosin-I (from Lycosa singnoriensis) exhibits activity against fungi of the genera Penicillium and Aspegillus, and is also able to induce the apoptosis of prostate cancer cells while the peptide Latarcin-3a from Lachesana tarabaevi is able to induce pores in the envelope of the HIV virus (12).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Optimization of the de novo assembly of the transcriptome of the venom gland of Pamphobeteus verdolaga, prospecting novel bioactive peptides

Salinas-Restrepo

Misas

Estrada-Gómez

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: Spiders are among the most venomous animals in nature. Their venom constitutes a source of novel and innovative peptides and proteins with medicinal and biotechnological interest. However, their potential as antimicrobial, anti-cancerous, anti-hypertensive and even in the modulation of nociception is under-studied, mainly because handling the venom is technically challenging and there is paucity of next-generation-sequencing (NGS) data. Due to the increasing evidence of underestimation of the number of genes by the use of a single transcriptome assembler, we re-assembled and optimized the de novo transcriptome of the venom gland of the recently described Colombian spider P. verdolaga, by using three free access algorithms: Trinity, Soapdenovo and SPAdes. All the assemblies were evaluated by statistical parameters (e.g. contigs, GC%, max and min length and N50), by applying BUSCO´s terms retrieval against the arthropod data set to determine the best assembly for each software.Results: Our analyses show that while approximately 54% of all the assembled and structurally annotated sequences could be found in all three algorithms, around 23% of these were unique for Trinity and 21% were unique for SPAdes. The non-redundant merge of all three assemblies’ output permitted the annotation of 8640 sequences; at least 15% more when compared to each software separately, and an increase of 20% when compared to a previous P. verdolaga assembly. Analysis of the annotated genes allowed the identification of unreported lectins, kinins and over 200 peptides and proteins with potential antimicrobial and protease inhibition activities. Furthermore, homology search against the Arachnoserver database and the EROP knowledgebase allowed the identification of 135 novel theraphotoxins of biotechnological interest.Conclusion: Transcriptomic data is of utmost importance for spiders, as it is one of the more feasible and scalable ways to characterize these organisms. However, the use of a single de novo assembler implies an under representation of the expressed sequences, as it has been shown here. In the generation of data for non-model organisms as well as in the search for novel peptides and proteins with biotechnological interest, it is highly recommended that at least two different assemblers are employed.

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Versatile spider venom peptides and their medical and agricultural applications

Cited by 70 publications

References 220 publications

Animal toxins — Nature’s evolutionary-refined toolkit for basic research and drug discovery

Animal toxins — Nature’s evolutionary-refined toolkit for basic research and drug discovery

An economic dilemma between weapon systems may explain an arachno-atypical venom in wasp spiders (Argiope bruennichi)

Optimization of the de novo assembly of the transcriptome of the venom gland of Pamphobeteus verdolaga, prospecting novel bioactive peptides

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