Dataset Information

Naja annulifera Snake: New Insights into the Venom Components and Pathogenesis of Envenomation

ABSTRACT: Naja annulifera is a dangerous snake that belongs to the Elapidae family. It is found in some of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and has caused several accidents in humans and dogs. In this study, we characterized some of the biochemical, toxic and immunogenic properties of N. annulifera venom. We showed that the venom is composed of several proteins, some of which display enzymatic activities, such as phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase, metalloproteinases and serine proteinases. The venom promoted disturbances in the human coagulation system and was cytotoxic to human epidermal cells. Using a mouse model, we showed that the venom promotes local reactions that were reduced with anti-inflammatory drugs. The venom caused systemic inflammation, lung hemorrhage and death. Further, the venom stimulated production of high antibody titers when injected into mice and the antiserum produced was able to inhibit venom-induced death. We therefore conclude that N. annulifera venom contains toxins that play a role in the toxic and inflammatory effects that contribute to the clinical manifestations and death. Moreover, the venom is immunogenic, an important aspect for the production an efficient N. annulifera antivenom.

INSTRUMENT(S): LTQ Orbitrap Velos

ORGANISM(S): Naja Annulifera

SUBMITTER: Eduardo Kitano

LAB HEAD: Solange M. T. Serrano

PROVIDER: PXD010962 | Pride | 2019-02-25

REPOSITORIES: Pride

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Naja annulifera Snake: New insights into the venom components and pathogenesis of envenomation.

Silva-de-França Felipe F Villas-Boas Isadora Maria IM Serrano Solange Maria de Toledo SMT Cogliati Bruno B Chudzinski Sonia Aparecida de Andrade SAA Lopes Priscila Hess PH Kitano Eduardo Shigueo ES Okamoto Cinthya Kimori CK Tambourgi Denise V DV

PLoS neglected tropical diseases 20190118 1

<h4>Background</h4>Naja annulifera is a medically important venomous snake occurring in some of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Accidental bites result in severe coagulation disturbances, systemic inflammation and heart damage, as reported in dogs, and death, by respiratory arrest, in humans. Despite the medical importance of N. annulifera, little is known about its venom composition and the pathogenesis of envenomation. In this paper, the toxic, inflammatory and immunogenic properties of N ...[more]

PMID: 30657756

Similar Datasets

Project description:Background: Solubilized aluminum (Al) is rhizotoxic and can be present in acid soils at levels that inhibit root growth. Acid soils are found throughout the world and often support forests. However, unlike in herbaceous plants, little is known about the mechanisms by which forest trees respond to and tolerate Al. To begin to elucidate these mechanisms, we characterized transcriptomic changes in response to Al in roots of aspen (Populus tremula L.). Results: Aspen roots were treated with Al in solution culture for 6 h, 54 h, and 246 h. Transcriptomic changes were assessed by the Affymetrix GeneChip Poplar Genome Array. The analysis revealed 176 induced and 66 suppressed genes. The majority of these genes were regulated at 6 h, presumably reflecting root growth, which was strongly inhibited at 6 h and partially was recovered at 2 d and 10 d. Enrichment analysis identified sets of functionally related genes whose members were statistically over-represented compared to the genes on the microarray. These sets included genes related to cell wall modification, oxidative stress, cell death, and transport processes. Two of the genes involved in transport were related to the Arabidopsis Al tolerance genes AtALS3 (aluminum sensitive 3), possibly mediating redistribution of Al, and AtMATE (multi-drug and toxin extrusion), facilitating exudation of citrate. Expression patterns in response to Al in different plant tissues indicated that the two aspen genes are homologs of AtALS3 and AtMATE, suggesting that aspen and Arabidopsis share common mechanisms to cope with Al. Conclusion: This is the first survey of transcriptomic changes in response to Al in a forest tree. The results of our study provide a valuable set of data, which will help to further our understanding of the mechanisms and their regulation that enable aspen to grow in environments with toxic levels of Al. Aspen roots were treated with Al in solution culture for 6 h, 54 h, 246 h to cover a broad range of exposure times. Transcriptomic changes were assessed by the Affymetrix GeneChip Poplar Genome Array. For each time point, root tips of three independant plants were analyzed.

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.

Dataset Information

Naja annulifera Snake: New Insights into the Venom Components and Pathogenesis of Envenomation

Publications

Naja annulifera Snake: New insights into the venom components and pathogenesis of envenomation.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure