Project description:Sea nettle jellyfish cause millions of painful stings annually with little known about how their venom works and no rational treatments available. Here we perform a systematic analysis of sea nettle venom / host interactions. The venom shows dose-dependent cytotoxic activity in human cells and this can be blocked by dual inhibition of apoptosis and necroptosis. Using whole-genome CRISPR screening we identified human genes and pathways that modify venom action. The top gene cluster identified regulates proteoglycan biosynthesis. We show exogenous heparin, a drug used clinically as an anticoagulant, blocks venom cytotoxicity at a physiologically relevant dose. This effect was therapeutic, inhibiting venom even one hour after exposure. Importantly, in vivo, heparin protected against acute spontaneous pain, thermal hyperalgesia, and mechanical allodynia induced by venom. This provides the exciting possibility of repurposing heparin, a safe, commercially available drug as a prophylactic or therapeutic to reduce the impact of sea nettle stings.
Project description:Both single cell and bulk RNA sequencing was performed on expanding or differentiating snake venom gland organoids (from Aspidelaps Lubricus Cowlesi and Naja Nivea), or tissue (Aspidelaps Lubricus Cowlesi). Bulk RNA sequencing from the snake venom gland, liver and pancreas was performed to construct a de novo transcriptome using Trinity.
Project description:The composition of the venom from solitary wasps is poorly known, although these animals are considered as sources of bioactive substances. Until the present moment, there is only one proteomic characterization of the venom of wasps of the family Pompilidae and this is the first proteomic characterization for the genus Pepsis
Project description:Diachasmimorpha longicaudata parasitoid wasps carry a symbiotic poxvirus, known as DlEPV, within the female wasp venom gland. We sequenced RNA from venom gland tissue to identify DlEPV orthologs for 3 conserved poxvirus core genes. The DlEPV ORFs identified from this transcriptome were used to design primers for downstream RT-qPCR analysis and RNAi knockdown experiments.
Project description:Background The generalist dipteran pupal parasitoid Nasonia vitripennis injects 79 venom peptides into the host before egg laying. This venom induces several important changes in the host, including developmental arrest, immunosuppression, and alterations to normal metabolism. It is hoped that diverse and potent bioactivities of N. vitripennis venom provide an opportunity for the design of novel acting drugs. However, currently very little is known about the individual functions of N. vitripennis venom peptides and less than half can be bioinformatically annotated. The paucity of annotation information complicates the design of studies that seek to better understand the potential mechanisms underlying the envenomation response. Although the RNA interference system of N. vitripennis provides an opportunity to functionally characterise venom encoding genes, with 79 candidates this represents a daunting task. For this reason we were interested in determining the expression levels of venom encoding genes in the venom gland, such that this information could be used to rank candidate venoms. To do this we carried out deep sequencing of the transcriptome of the venom gland and neighbouring ovary tissue and used RNA-seq to measure expression from the 79 venom encoding genes. The generation of a specific venom gland transcriptome dataset also provides further opportunities to investigate novel features of this highly specialised organ. Results High throughput sequencing and RNA-seq revealed that the highest expressed venom encoding gene in the venom gland was a serine protease called Nasvi2EG007167, which has previously been implicated in the apoptotic activity of N. vitripennis venom. As expected the RNA-seq confirmed that the N. vitripennis venom encoding genes are almost exclusively expressed in the venom gland relative to the neighbouring ovary tissue. Novel peptides appear to perform key roles in N. vitripennis venom function as only four of the highest 15 expressed venom encoding genes are bioinformatically annotationed. The high throughput sequencing data also provided evidence for the existence of an additional 471 novel genes in the Nasonia genome that are expressed in the venom gland and ovary. Finally, metagenomic analysis of venom gland transcripts identified viral transcripts that may play an important part in the N. vitripennis venom function. Conclusions The expression level information provided here for the 79 venom encoding genes provides an unbiased dataset that can be used by the N. vitripennis community to identify high value candidates for further functional characterisation. These candidates represent bioactive peptides that have value in drug development pipelines.
Project description:Agelena koreana is indigenous spider in South Korea that lives on piles of trees building webs. RNA-sequencing was performed for venom gland tissue and whole body except venom gland.
Project description:Callobius koreanus (C.koreanus) is a wandering spider and a member of the Amaurobiidae family, infraorder Araneae. RNA-sequencing was performend for venom gland tissue and whole body except venom gland.
Project description:The project focuses on the characterization and exploration of the bioactive components of Androctonus mauritanicus scorpion venom, with an emphasis on proteomic profiling and peptide identification. The overarching goal is to generate a comprehensive dataset of venom peptides and proteins, which can serve as a resource for understanding venom composition, discovering novel bioactive molecules, and facilitating comparative analyses with other scorpion species. Specimens were collected from a high-risk region for scorpion envenomation and maintained under controlled laboratory conditions. Venom was extracted via low-voltage electrical stimulation, centrifuged to remove impurities, lyophilized, and stored at −80°C to preserve biological activity. The venom was then solubilized, desalted, and fractionated using solid-phase extraction and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography, allowing for separation of complex protein mixtures into manageable fractions suitable for mass spectrometry analysis. Enzymatic digestion was performed using trypsin and Lys-C, following reduction and alkylation steps to break disulfide bonds and prevent their reformation. Peptide samples were concentrated and analyzed using high-resolution mass spectrometry, including both Quadrupole Time-of-Flight (Q-TOF) and Orbitrap Q-Exactive platforms, coupled with nano-flow liquid chromatography. Data-dependent acquisition strategies were employed to maximize peptide coverage, and advanced software tools were used to process raw spectra, identify peptide sequences, and annotate post-translational modifications. The resulting dataset provides high-confidence peptide identifications, including sequence information suitable for deposition in public proteomics repositories. By sharing these data through ProteomeXchange, the project aims to enhance reproducibility, enable comparative studies, and support further research into venom-derived bioactive compounds with potential therapeutic applications.
Project description:Understanding and predicting the relationships between genotype and phenotype is often challenging, largely due to the complex nature of eukaryotic gene regulation. A step towards this goal is to map how phenotypic variation evolves through genomic changes that modify gene regulatory interactions. Using the Prairie Rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis) and related species, we integrate mRNA-seq, proteomic, ATAC-seq and whole genome resequencing data to understand how specific evolutionary modifications to gene regulatory network components produce variation in venom gene expression. Through comparisons within and between species, we find a remarkably high degree of gene expression and regulatory network variation across even a shallow level of evolutionary divergence. We use these data to test hypotheses about the roles of specific trans-factors and cis-regulatory elements, how these roles may vary across venom genes and gene families, and how variation in regulatory systems drive variation in venom phenotypes. Our results illustrate that variation in chromatin and genotype at regulatory elements plays major roles in modulating expression. However, we also find that enhancer deletions, variation in transcription-factor expression, and variation in activity of the insulator protein CTCF also impact downstream venom phenotypes. Our findings provide insight into the diversity and gene-specificity of gene regulatory features and highlight the value of comparative studies to link gene regulatory network variation to phenotypic variation.
Project description:The recent COVID-19 pandemic shows the critical need for novel broad spectrum antiviral agents. Scorpion venoms are known to contain highly bioactive 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 high performance liquid chromatography, transcriptome mining, circular dichroism and mass spectrometric analysis to purify and characterize twelve previously undescribed venom peptides. Selected peptides were tested for binding to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and inhibition of the spike RBD – human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (hACE2) interaction using surface plasmon resonance-based assays. Seven peptides showed dose-dependent inhibitory effects, albeit with IC50 in the high micromolar range (117–1202 μM). 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 to the synthetic peptide of a human lung cell line infected with replication-competent SARS-CoV-2, we observed an IC50 of 200 nM, which was nearly 600-fold lower than that observed in the RBD – hACE2 binding inhibition assay. Our results show that scorpion venom peptides can inhibit the SARS-CoV-2 replication although unlikely through inhibition of spike RBD – hACE2 interaction as the primary mode of action. Scorpion venom peptides represent excellent scaffolds for design of novel anti-SARS-CoV-2 constrained peptides. Future studies should fully explore their antiviral mode of action as well as the structural dynamics of inhibition of target virus-host interactions.