Atractaspis aterrima toxins: the first insight into the molecular evolution of venom in side-stabbers.

ABSTRACT: Although snake venoms have been the subject of intense research, primarily because of their tremendous potential as a bioresource for design and development of therapeutic compounds, some specific groups of snakes, such as the genus Atractaspis, have been completely neglected. To date only limited number of toxins, such as sarafotoxins have been well characterized from this lineage. In order to investigate the molecular diversity of venom from Atractaspis aterrima-the slender burrowing asp, we utilized a high-throughput transcriptomic approach completed with an original bioinformatics analysis pipeline. Surprisingly, we found that Sarafotoxins do not constitute the major ingredient of the transcriptomic cocktail; rather a large number of previously well-characterized snake venom-components

SUBMITTER: Terrat Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3847709 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature