Comparative proteomic profiling and functional characterization of venom pooled from captive Crotalus durissus terrificus specimens and the Brazilian crotalic reference venom

Crotalus Durissus Ruruima: Current Knowledge on Natural History, Medical Importance, and Clinical Toxinology

“…The proteome analysis performed by Calvete and colleagues from C. d. ruruima was performed with a pool of “white” venom, and showed a low abundance of LAAO (<1%) ( 5 ). In other, C. durissus subspecies venoms, LAAOs are also present in low abundance ( 44 ), with a highest concentration of 4.5% found in a C. d. terrificus sample ( Table 1 ) ( 5 , 45 – 48 ). LAAO’s physiological role is still unknown; it is speculated that they may be related to venom conservation and stabilization of the venom glands, due to their antibacterial properties ( 102 ).…”

“…One of the most abundant protein family in C. durissus snake venoms is the CTX family (44,45,53). Crotoxin is a heterodimer protein composed of a complex of a basic subunit named phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) and a non-toxic acidic subunit, crotapotin, which prevents the PLA 2 binding in to non-specific sites (54)(55)(56).…”

“…Although C. d. ruruima venom presents SVSPs (8.1%) (5), these enzyme classes have never been isolated from this venom, unlike from C. d. terrificus (0.7-25.3%; Table 1) (5,(45)(46)(47)(48), from which two SVSPs have been isolated, gyroxin and CdtSP2, presenting important roles in coagulation disturbances, neurotoxicity, and inflammation (77)(78)(79). Studies have also shown potential therapeutic use of SVSPs from C. durissus subspecies, such as the use for fibrin sealant in the treatment of dermatological ulcers (80).…”

“…C. d. ruruima is the Brazilian subspecies that presents the highest abundance of CTLs (4.3%) (5), while the others subspecies present lower proportions in their venoms (<2.7%) (5,(45)(46)(47)(48). Snake venoms CTLs are heterodimeric proteins, composed of two homologous subunits a and b (with 14-15 kDa and 13-14 kDa, respectively), which can be arranged in oligomeric complexes (82,83).…”

“…According to the venomic approach, C. d. ruruima presents only PIII-SVMP in its venom composition (2.9%) (5), as well as C. d. cascavella (<0.1%) and C. d. collilineatus (0.4%) (44), although the latter also presents disintegrins (44,53), while C. d. terrificus presents varied proportions of the SVMPs group (0.09-5.5%; Table 1) (5,(45)(46)(47)(48). Although SVMPs from C. durissus subspecies are poorly studied, this group of toxins from Crotalus spp.…”