Journal
PEPTIDES
Volume 146, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.peptides.2021.170643
Keywords
Scorpion; Venom gland; Toxin peptides; Sodium channel toxin; Envenomation; Evolution
Funding
- Hong Kong Research Grant Council General Research Fund [14100919]
- Chinese University of Hong Kong Direct Grant [133134084]
- Chinese University of Hong Kong
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A combination of transcriptomic and proteomic approaches was used to identify putative conserved toxins in the venom glands of scorpions Liocheles australasiae, Mesobuthus martensii, and Scorpio maurus palmatus. The study revealed that over half of the conserved toxins are proteins, including proteases, while unique venom peptides were found specifically in Mesobuthus martensii.
Scorpion venom contains a cocktail of differing peptides and proteins. Previous studies focused on the identification of species-specific components in scorpion venoms, and whether there could be peptides and/or proteins conserved in the venom gland of a scorpion ancestor has been rarely investigated. Here, using a combination of transcriptomic and proteomic approaches, putative conserved toxins from the venom glands of scorpions Liocheles australasiae, Mesobuthus martensii, and Scorpio maurus palmatus were identified and compared. Similar to other studies, more than half of the conserved toxins are predominantly proteins including proteases. On the other hand, unique venom peptides, including ion channel toxins were revealed specifically in the M. martensii. The sodium channel toxin peptides revealed in M. martensii consolidated that scorpions in the Buthidae are able to envenomate their prey wih highly neurotoxic venom. This study suggested that these conserved proteins had already formed part of the arsenal in the venom gland of the common ancestor of scorpions, and likely perform important functional roles in envenomation during scorpion evolution.
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