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Functional and Proteomic Insights into Aculeata Venoms

Authors :
Daniel Dashevsky
Kate Baumann
Eivind A. B. Undheim
Amanda Nouwens
Maria P. Ikonomopoulou
Justin O. Schmidt
Lilin Ge
Hang Fai Kwok
Juanita Rodriguez
Bryan G. Fry
Source :
Toxins, Vol 15, Iss 3, p 224 (2023)
Publication Year :
2023
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2023.

Abstract

Aculeate hymenopterans use their venom for a variety of different purposes. The venom of solitary aculeates paralyze and preserve prey without killing it, whereas social aculeates utilize their venom in defence of their colony. These distinct applications of venom suggest that its components and their functions are also likely to differ. This study investigates a range of solitary and social species across Aculeata. We combined electrophoretic, mass spectrometric, and transcriptomic techniques to characterize the compositions of venoms from an incredibly diverse taxon. In addition, in vitro assays shed light on their biological activities. Although there were many common components identified in the venoms of species with different social behavior, there were also significant variations in the presence and activity of enzymes such as phospholipase A2s and serine proteases and the cytotoxicity of the venoms. Social aculeate venom showed higher presence of peptides that cause damage and pain in victims. The venom-gland transcriptome from the European honeybee (Apis mellifera) contained highly conserved toxins which match those identified by previous investigations. In contrast, venoms from less-studied taxa returned limited results from our proteomic databases, suggesting that they contain unique toxins.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20726651
Volume :
15
Issue :
3
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Toxins
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.26e0f98f3b214328a864d673ba9e1ef3
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins15030224