Isolation of scorpion (Androctonus amoreuxi) putative alpha neurotoxins and parallel cloning of their respective cDNAs from a single sample of venom

Chen, Tianbao; Folan, Ronan; Kwok, HangFai; O’Kane, Edmund; Bjourson, Anthony J.; Shaw, Chris

doi:10.1016/s0167-0115(03)00146-0

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 21 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This has been historically problematic because of the unpalatable need to sacrifice snakes (often rare, difficult to capture and CITES listed) to isolate mRNA from dissected venom glands. The observation of Chen et al [8], demonstrating that intact mRNA can be recovered, and toxins can be PCR-amplified and cloned from snake venoms and the venoms/skin secretions of other animals including Heloderma lizard [9], scorpion [10] and fire-bellied toads [11]–[13], has potential to resolve this research bottleneck. Exploiting these unusual observations, we have used venom as a resource and developed qPCR techniques as a tool to monitor the expression dynamics of mRNA encoding multiple venom toxin genes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unusual Stability of Messenger RNA in Snake Venom Reveals Gene Expression Dynamics of Venom Replenishment

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Venom is a critical evolutionary innovation enabling venomous snakes to become successful limbless predators; it is therefore vital that venomous snakes possess a highly efficient venom production and delivery system to maintain their predatory arsenal. Here, we exploit the unusual stability of messenger RNA in venom to conduct, for the first time, quantitative PCR to characterise the dynamics of gene expression of newly synthesised venom proteins following venom depletion. Quantitative PCR directly from venom enables real-time dynamic studies of gene expression in the same animals because it circumvents the conventional requirement to sacrifice snakes to extract mRNA from dissected venom glands. Using qPCR and proteomic analysis, we show that gene expression and protein re-synthesis triggered by venom expulsion peaks between days 3–7 of the cycle of venom replenishment, with different protein families expressed in parallel. We demonstrate that venom re-synthesis occurs very rapidly following depletion of venom stores, presumably to ensure venomous snakes retain their ability to efficiently predate and remain defended from predators. The stability of mRNA in venom is biologically fascinating, and could significantly empower venom research by expanding opportunities to produce transcriptomes from historical venom stocks and rare or endangered venomous species, for new therapeutic, diagnostic and evolutionary studies.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unusual Stability of Messenger RNA in Snake Venom Reveals Gene Expression Dynamics of Venom Replenishment

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Of these molecules, 638 peptides (73%) are from 47 scorpion species of the Buthidae family [71]. These consist both of disulfide-bridged peptides (DBPs), and of non-disulfide-bridged peptides (NDBPs) [55,136,137]. According to Almaaytah and Albalas [52], DBPs cause neurotoxic effects, and NDBPs reveal diverse structures and activities.…”

Section: Antimicrobial Peptidesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Venoms of Iranian Scorpions (Arachnida, Scorpiones) and Their Potential for Drug Discovery

Kazemi¹,

Sabatier

2019

Molecules

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Scorpions, a characteristic group of arthropods, are among the earliest diverging arachnids, dating back almost 440 million years. One of the many interesting aspects of scorpions is that they have venom arsenals for capturing prey and defending against predators, which may play a critical role in their evolutionary success. Unfortunately, however, scorpion envenomation represents a serious health problem in several countries, including Iran. Iran is acknowledged as an area with a high richness of scorpion species and families. The diversity of the scorpion fauna in Iran is the subject of this review, in which we report a total of 78 species and subspecies in 19 genera and four families. We also list some of the toxins or genes studied from five species, including Androctonus crassicauda, Hottentotta zagrosensis, Mesobuthus phillipsi, Odontobuthus doriae, and Hemiscorpius lepturus, in the Buthidae and Hemiscorpiidae families. Lastly, we review the diverse functions of typical toxins from the Iranian scorpion species, including their medical applications.

show abstract

“…The chemistry of A. amoreuxi venom and its transcriptome have not been extensively studied as only 10 venom peptides have been identi ed and characterized to date (Table 1). [20][21][22][23][24] We have generated an annotated reference transcriptome for the A. amoreuxi venom gland. We also used a surface plasmon resonance-based assay to test the ability of the newly identi ed peptides to bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and to inhibit the spike RBD -hACE2 interaction.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Venomous gland transcriptome and venom proteomic analysis of the scorpion Androctonus amoreuxi reveal new peptides with anti-SARS- CoV-2 activity

Ghazal

Clarke

Abdel-Rahman

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The recent COVID-19 pandemic shows the critical need for novel broad spectrum antiviral agents. Scorpion venoms are known to contain highly constrained peptides, several of which have demonstrated strong antiviral activity against a range of viruses. We have generated the first annotated reference transcriptome for the Androctonus amoreuxi venom gland and used transcriptome mining, circular dichroism and mass spectrometric analysis to characterize fifteen new venom peptides. Some of these peptides were tested for their ability to bind to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and to inhibit the spike RBD - hACE2 interaction that precedes virus entry into the cell using a surface plasmon resonance-based assay. Seven peptides showed dose-dependent inhibitory effects. The most active peptide was synthesized using solid phase peptide synthesis and tested for its antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 (Lineage B.1.1.7). On exposure of replication-competent SARS-CoV-2 to the synthetic peptide, we observed a two log10 PFU/mL reduction at sub-micromolar concentrations of the peptide compared to virus exposed to medium alone. Our results show that scorpion venom peptides could inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 spike RBD - hACE2 interaction, exhibit anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity through other unexplored modes of actions and represent excellent scaffolds for design of novel anti-SARS-CoV-2 constrained peptides.

show abstract

Isolation of scorpion (Androctonus amoreuxi) putative alpha neurotoxins and parallel cloning of their respective cDNAs from a single sample of venom

Cited by 16 publications

References 21 publications

Unusual Stability of Messenger RNA in Snake Venom Reveals Gene Expression Dynamics of Venom Replenishment

Unusual Stability of Messenger RNA in Snake Venom Reveals Gene Expression Dynamics of Venom Replenishment

Venoms of Iranian Scorpions (Arachnida, Scorpiones) and Their Potential for Drug Discovery

Venomous gland transcriptome and venom proteomic analysis of the scorpion Androctonus amoreuxi reveal new peptides with anti-SARS- CoV-2 activity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About