Figures 1-12 - uploaded by Rolando Teruel
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Androctonus bicolor Ehrenberg, 1828. Figures 1-2, 5-6, 12. Dorsal (1) and ventral (2) views, right pedipalp chela dorsal (5) and external (6) and right movable finger internal (12), ♂ lectotype. Figures 3-4, 7-11. Dorsal (3) and ventral (4) views, right pedipalp chela dorsal (7) and external (8), pedipalp patela dorsal (9) and external (10) and pedipalp femur dorsal (11), ♀ paralectotype. The original label is also included in the plate.
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Citations
... However, A. crassicauda is distributed in many provinces of Iran. Also, M. eupeus has the highest distribution in Iran (Farzanpay, 1978;Dehghani et al., 2006;Masihipour and Navidpour, 2009;Mirshamsi et al., 2010;Mirshamsi et al., 2011;Sedaghat et al., 2012;Mirshamsi et al., 2013;Karataş and Gharkheloo, 2013;Teruel, 2014;Nejati et al., 2014;Navidpour, 2012Navidpour, , 2015Moradi et al., 2015;Aydın et al., 2016;Gholizadeh et al., 2016;Mohammadi et al., 2017;Mongiardino et al., 2017;Vazirianzadeh et al., 2017;Fet et al., 2018;Firoozfar et al., 2019;Kovařík et al., 2017Kovařík et al., , 2018Kovařík et al., , 2019Navidpour et al., 2010Navidpour et al., , 2019. ...
Scorpionism is a global health concern, with an estimation of over one million annual envenomation cases. Despite this, little is known regarding the drivers of scorpion venom potency. One widely held view is that smaller scorpions with less-developed chelae possess the most potent venoms. While this perception is often used as a guide for medical intervention, it has yet to be tested in a formal comparative framework. Here, we use a phylogenetic comparative analysis of 36 scorpion species to test whether scorpion venom potency, as measured using LD50, is related to scorpion body size and morphology. We found a positive relationship between LD50 and scorpion total length, supporting the perception that smaller scorpions possess more potent venoms. We also found that, independent of body size, scorpion species with long narrow chelae have higher venom potencies compared to species with more robust chelae. These results not only support the general perception of scorpion morphology and potency, but also the presence of an ecology trade-off with scorpions either selected for well-developed chelae or more potent venoms. Testing the patterns of venom variations in scorpions aids both our ecological understanding and our ability to address the global health burden of scorpionism.
Androctonus bicolor is one of the most poisonous scorpion species in the world. However, little has been known about the venom composition of the scorpion. To better understand the molecular diversity and medical significance of the venom from the scorpion, we systematically analyzed the venom components by combining transcriptomic and proteomic surveys. Random sequencing of 1000 clones from a cDNA library prepared from the venom glands of the scorpion revealed that 70% of the total transcripts code for venom peptide precursors. Our efforts led to a discovery of 103 novel putative venom peptides. These peptides include NaTx-like, KTx-like and CaTx-like peptides, putative antimicrobial peptides, defensin-like peptides, BPP-like peptides, BmKa2-like peptides, Kunitz-type toxins and some new-type venom peptides without disulfide bridges, as well as many new-type venom peptides that are cross-linked with one, two, three, five or six disulfide bridges, respectively. We also identified three peptides that are identical to known toxins from scorpions. The venom was also analyzed using a proteomic technique. The presence of a total of 16 different venom peptides was confirmed by LC-MS/MS analysis. The discovery of a wide range of new and new-type venom peptides highlights the unique diversity of the venom peptides from A. bicolor. These data also provide a series of novel templates for the development of therapeutic drugs for treating ion channel-associated diseases and infections caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and offer molecular probes for the exploration of structures and functions of various ion channels.
