Reduced Toxicity of Centruroides vittatus (Say, 1821) May Result from Lowered Sodium β Toxin Gene Expression and Toxin Protein Production.

ABSTRACT: Body tissue and venom glands from an eastern population of the scorpion Centruroides vittatus (Say, 1821) were homogenized and molecular constituents removed to characterize putative sodium β toxin gene diversity, RT-qPCR, transcriptomic, and proteomic variation. We cloned sodium β toxins from genomic DNA, conducted RT-qPCR experiments with seven sodium β toxin variants, performed venom gland tissue RNA-seq, and isolated venom proteins for mass spectrophotometry. We identified >70 putative novel sodium β toxin genes, 111 toxin gene transcripts, 24 different toxin proteins, and quantified sodium β toxin gene expression variation among individuals and between sexes. Our analyses contribute to the growing evidence that venom toxicity among scorpion taxa and their populations may be ass

SUBMITTER: Bowman A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8619477 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature