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The venom of the Cuban scorpion Rhopalurus junceus is poorly study from the point of view of their components at molecular level and the functions associated. The purpose of this article was to conduct a proteomic analysis of venom components from scorpions collected in different geographical areas of the country.
Venom from the blue scorpion, as i...
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... and discussion Figure 1 shows a map corresponding to five geographical areas where scorpions judged to be of the species R. junceus, based on various morphological markers, were collected. Ten animals from each locality were milked for venom, as described in the section Material and Methods, after which the samples were subjected to chromatographic separation and molecular mass determination. ...Similar publications
The holotype of the Emperor Scorpion Pandinus imperator (C.L. Koch, 1841) was long believed to have been lost. In 2015, as sci-entists at the State Museum of Natural History in Stuttgart were digitizing its entomological collections, they rediscovered the specimen on which Koch had based his description of the scorpion in 1841.
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... Scorpion venom is used for multiple research purposes. Venom varies from species to species, and may differ in intensity due to the changes in composition according to environmental and genetic variations [48,49]. The process of obtaining venom can be a time-consuming and dangerous task, as the scorpions must be alive. ...
Scorpions are incredible venomous animals found on almost every continent. According to fossil data, these animals have been able to adapt to the different environments from the Cambrian period until today with minimal anatomical changes. Scorpions are mostly nocturnal animals, and their ability to detect and tolerate light stimuli seems to be an essential tool for their subsistence, homing and mating. Centruroides suffuses is the most predominant specie of scorpions in Durango City, Mexico. Interestingly, and despite their life-threatening venom, these predatory arthropod animals have been adopted by locals as part of the landscape and daily life, by including them as part of their folklore and their economic resources, and learning how to take advantage of their abundance. In addition, the venom of scorpions possesses potential for therapeutic uses, while the scorpions themselves represent a nutritional food resource rich in protein, which has been poorly explored so far. Therefore, they are an excellent model for exploring the interplay between light sensibilities, survival and therapeutic–medicinal uses. Here, we review some of the potential benefits of scorpions and share the ways people in Durango City, Mexico, use UV light devices to detect and avoid or catch them for business and research purposes.
... With a median lethal dose (LD50) value (intravenous administration) of 0.73 mg/kg (Turkey) [24], 1.07 mg/kg (Iraq) [25], and 1.01 mg/kg (Iran) [26] in the laboratory mice (20 ± 2 g), the H. saulcyi venom seems to be one of the family's most toxic species, and accidents with the species can be dangerous to humans in the distributed area including Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Afghanistan. Despite the close similarities in LD50 value, intraspecies venom variation has been reported in scorpion specimens [27][28][29], which can result from, e.g., evolutionary history, climatic factors, ontogeny, or adaptation toward different prey. Thus, knowledge of venom composition among H. saulcyi populations geographically can provide critical information for predicting clinical symptoms and the likely efficacy of an existing antivenom and for influencing the design of more effective immunizing mixtures for future antivenom production. ...
Scorpion venom is a complex secretory mixture of components with potential biological and physiological properties that attracted many researchers due to promising applications from clinical and pharmacological perspectives. In this study, we investigated the venom of the Iranian scorpion Hottentotta saulcyi (Simon, 1880) by applying mass-spectrometry-based proteomic and lipidomic approaches to assess the diversity of components present in the venom. The data revealed that the venom’s proteome composition is largely dominated by Na+- and K+-channel-impairing toxic peptides, following the enzymatic and non-enzymatic protein families, e.g., angiotensin-converting enzyme, serine protease, metalloprotease, hyaluronidase, carboxypeptidase, and cysteine-rich secretory peptide. Furthermore, lipids comprise ~1.2% of the dry weight of the crude venom. Phospholipids, ether-phospholipids, oxidized-phospholipids, triacylglycerol, cardiolipins, very-long-chain sphingomyelins, and ceramides were the most intensely detected lipid species in the scorpion venom, may acting either independently or synergistically during the envenomation alongside proteins and peptides. The results provide detailed information on the chemical makeup of the venom, helping to improve our understanding of biological molecules present in it, leading to a better insight of the medical significance of the venom, and improving the medical care of patients suffering from scorpion accidents in the relevant regions such as Iran, Iraq, Turkey, and Afghanistan.
... The peptides of low molecular weight (i.e. 13 kDa and 6 kDa) expressed in all the three examined species are responsible for toxicity of their venom. The obtained results agreed with the suggestion made by Rodríguez-Ravelo et al., (2013) that the peptides within the molecular range of 14 kDa to 19 kDa indicates phospholipase enzyme. This enzyme aid toxicity to the venom, as well as the presence of hyaluronidase enzyme represented by the band with molecular weight of 45 kDa, which is very closed to the 44 kDa band, identified in Androctonus finitimus and Androctonus bicolor proteomic profile of reporting work ( Figure 1 & Table 1). ...
... This enzyme aid toxicity to the venom, as well as the presence of hyaluronidase enzyme represented by the band with molecular weight of 45 kDa, which is very closed to the 44 kDa band, identified in Androctonus finitimus and Androctonus bicolor proteomic profile of reporting work ( Figure 1 & Table 1). Additionally, the low molecular weight peptides ranging between 6.5-8.5 kDa are suspected to act on sodium channels (de la Vega and Possani, 2005;Rodríguez-Ravelo et al., 2013) thus employing the medicinal importance of all the three examined species in proliferations, invasiveness and migrative properties of cell. Another peptide of 68 kDa is also found common in all the three reporting species, this finding corroborate by finding of Ozkan and Ciftci., (2010); who reported the presence of the common band of 68 kDa in all the 8 venom samples of Mesobuthus gibbosus which is also a Buthidae scorpion, thus may be proving the inter-genus similarity between Buthidae scorpions. ...
This is the first reported study conducted for partial characterization of venom from three scorpion species (Odontobuthus odonturus, Androctonus finitimus and Androctonus bicolor), collected from different regions of Balochistan, Pakistan. The venom was extracted and analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and results revealed the presence of different peptides ranged from 6 kDa to 121 kDa. Peptide bands of 68 kDa, 13 kDa and 6 kDa were found common in all the three venom samples, while peptide bands of 121 kDa, 44 kDa and 23 kDa were shared between Androctonus finitimus and Androctonus bicolor, similarly 29 kDa of band was common in Androctonus finitimus and Odontobuthus odonturus. Furthermore, each scorpion species had a minimum of one unique peptide band. The similar electrophoretic characteristics of some peptide components suggested inter-genus and inter-species relationships among different species. Conversely each sample of examined species also represents a distinctive profile that differentiates one species from another thus providing a simple tool for taxonomical studies.
... Of course, inter-specimens' variability was also observed [75]. Due to the importance of molecular phenotypes to the understanding of phylogenetic and ecological relations, many other proteomic studies analyzed intraspecific variations in scorpion venom proteins and peptides [76], including sexual dimorphism [77]. ...
Abstract The word venomics was coined to acknowledge the studies that use omics to investigate venom proteins and peptides. Venomics has evolved considerably over the last 20 years. The first works on scorpion or spider venomics were published in the early 2000’s. Such studies relied on peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) to characterize venom complexity. After the introduction of new mass spectrometers with higher resolution, sensitivity and mass accuracy, and the next-generation nucleotide sequencing, the complexity of data reported in research on scorpion and spider venomics increased exponentially, which allowed more comprehensive studies. In the present review article, we covered key publications on scorpion venomics and spider venomics, presenting historical grounds and implemented technologies over the last years. The literature presented in this review was selected after searching the PubMed database using the terms “(scorpion venom) AND (proteome)” for scorpion venomics, and “(spider venom) AND (proteome)” for publications on spider venomics. We presented the key aspects related to proteomics in the covered papers including, but not restricted to, the employed proteomic strategy (i.e., PMF, two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, shotgun/bottom-up and/or top-down/peptidome), and the type of mass spectrometer used. Some conclusions can be drawn from the present study. For example, the scorpion genus Tityus is the most studied concerning venomics, followed by Centruroides; whereas for spiders the studied genera were found more equally distributed. Another interesting conclusion is the lack of high throughput studies on post-translational modifications (PTMs) of scorpion and spider proteins. In our opinion, PTMs should be more studied as they can modulate the activity of scorpion and spider toxins.
... An apparatus Evolution 300 UV-VIS spectrophotometer (Thermo Scientific, Madison, WI, USA) was used for quantification of the soluble venom samples, fractions obtained by SEC, and IEC; while the NanoDrop 2000 equipment (Thermo Scientific, Madison, WI, USA) was used for samples obtained by RP-HPLC separation, and for mass spectrometry and sequencing applications. For all quantifications it was assumed that one absorbance unit is equivalent to 1 mg/mL (Rodríguez-Ravelo et al., 2013). The quantification of the peptide used for LD 50 was calculated using the following relation: Concentration (μg/μL) = (Abs280 nm) (dilution factor) (molecular weight in Daltons)/ε280. ...
The venom of scorpions is a mixture of components that constitute a source of bioactive molecules. The venom of the scorpion Centruroides tecomanus contains peptides toxic to insects, however, to date no toxin responsible for this activity has yet been isolated and fully characterized. This communication describes two new peptides Ct-IT1 and Ct-IT2 purified from this scorpion. Both peptides contain 63 amino acids with molecular weight 6857.85 for Ct-IT1 and 6987.77 Da for Ct-IT2. The soluble venom was separated using chromatographic techniques of molecular size exclusion, cationic exchange, and reverse phase chromatography, allowing the identification of at least 99 components of which in 53 the insecticidal activity was evaluated. The LD50 determined for Ct-IT1 is 3.81 μg/100 mg of cricket weight, but low amounts of peptides (0.8 μg of peptide) already cause paralysis in crickets. The relative abundance of these two peptides in the venom is 2.1% for Ct-IT1 and 1% for Ct-IT2. The molecular masses and N-terminal sequences of both insecticidal toxins were determined by mass spectrometry and Edman degradation. The primary structure of both toxins was compared with other known peptides isolated from other scorpion venoms. The analysis of the sequence alignments revealed the position of a highly conserved amino acid residue, Gly39, exclusively present in anti-insect selective depressant β-toxins (DBTXs), which in Ct-IT1 and Ct-IT2 is at position Gly40. Similarly, a three-dimensional structure of this toxins was obtained by homology modeling and compared to the structure of known insect toxins of scorpions. An important similarity of the cavity formed by the trapping apparatus region of the depressant toxin LqhIT2, isolated from the scorpion Leiurus quinquestriatus hebraeus, was found in the toxins described here. These results indicate that Ct-IT1 and Ct-IT2 toxins have a high potential to be evaluated on pests that affect economically important crops to eventually consider them as a potential biological control method.
... Geographical range partly explained the dissimilarity in protein composition (S1 Fig). Most of the former studies have investigated causes of BV molecular variation in a single site [21]; however, based on evidence related to other animal venoms (scorpions, snakes), it is expected that biotope, as precise geographical localization, would be one of the most influencing causes of intraspecific variation of venom [59][60][61]. According to the argument raised for BV weight, site factors should be carefully evaluated prior to setting up a BV harvest in order to secure a given or desired protein profile. ...
Bee venom (BV) is the most valuable product harvested from honeybees ($30-$300 USD per gram) but marginally produced in apiculture. Though widely studied and used in alternative medicine, recent efforts in BV research have focused on its therapeutic and cosmetic applications, for the treatment of degenerative and infectious diseases. The protein and peptide composition of BV is integral to its bioactivity, yet little research has investigated the ecological factors influencing the qualitative and quantitative variations in the BV composition. Bee venom from Apis mellifera ligustica (Apidae), collected over one flowering season of Corymbia calophylla (Myrtaceae; marri) was characterized to test if the protein composition and amount of BV variation between sites is influenced by i) ecological factors (tempera-ture, relative humidity, flowering index and stage, nectar production); ii) management (nutritional supply and movement of hives); and/or iii) behavioural factors. BV samples from 25 hives across a 200 km-latitudinal range in Southwestern Australia were collected using stimulatory devices. We studied the protein composition of BV by mass spectrometry, using a bottom-up proteomics approach. Peptide identification utilised sequence homology to the A. mellifera reference genome, assembling a BV peptide profile representative of 99 proteins , including a number of previously uncharacterised BV proteins. Among ecological factors , BV weight and protein diversity varied by temperature and marri flowering stage but not by index, this latter suggesting that inter and intra-year flowering index should be further explored to better appreciate this influence. Site influenced BV protein diversity and weight difference in two sites. Bee behavioural response to the stimulator device impacted both the protein profile and weight, whereas management factors did not. Continued research using a combination of proteomics, and bio-ecological approaches is recommended to further understand causes of BV variation in order to standardise and improve the harvest practice and product quality attributes.
... Currently published articles investigate the composition and in vitro anticancer activity of the venom; there are no controlled clinical trials evaluating toxicity or effectiveness. [5][6][7][8] Giovannini et al. 6 reported that Vidatox 30 CH (venom extracted from the R. junceus scorpion) increased hepatocellular carcinoma cell proliferation and invasion in rats. Manufacturer states that it acts via ion channels that are important in cellular signaling. ...
Historically snake, scorpion, and hymenoptera venom have been used to treat various diseases. It is well known that alternative and/or complementary treatment options are widely used, especially among cancer patients. The case we describe here has lung carcinoma and received blue scorpion venom as an alternative therapy. A 86 years old male patient was admitted complaining of dyspnea. Thorax computed tomography (CT) showed a mass lesion and intraparenchymal nodules on the left upper lobe. Percutaneous transthoracic biopsy was performed, and the diagnosis was reported to be an epidermoid carcinoma. After the shared decision, A shared decision with the family and oncology specialists, the patient decided to try Cuban blue scorpion venom oral drops. Initially, it was well tolerated. However on the sixth day of treatment, sudden death occurred. Scorpion venom has been considered as a natural source for cancer therapy. Rhopalurus junceus is an endemic scorpion species from Cuba. Although it belongs to the most dangerous species related to human scorpionism, and no fatal stings have been reported. Currently published articles investigate the composition and in vitro anticancer activity of the venom; there are no controlled clinical trials evaluating toxicity or effectiveness. Uncontrolled use of alternative treatment options may lead to unexpected interactions with concomitant medications.
... Venom geographical variation caught the early attention of researchers of certain venomous animals, such as snakes and scorpions, which frequently cause envenomation with different symptoms (Jayanthi and Gowda, 1988;Abdel-Rahman, 2008). According to a number of studies, venom geographical variation in the same species has been identified in most terrestrial venomous animals by performing comparative analyses of venom components and toxicities (Shashidharamurthy et al., 2002;Salazar et al., 2007;Boldrini-Franca et al., 2010;Rodriguez-Ravelo et al., 2013;Sharma et al., 2014;Huang et al., 2015;Tan et al., 2015aTan et al., , 2016Tan et al., , 2017Sintiprungrat et al., 2016;Velez et al., 2017;Wong et al., 2018). For example, the venomous snake Daboia russelii varies in its venom components and antivenom neutralization effects in different regions, and the clinical presentations of envenomation varies from neurotoxicity and myotoxicity to hemorrhage and pituitary infarct (Sharma et al., 2015;Tan et al., 2015b;Faisal et al., 2018). ...
Venom geographical variation is common among venomous animals. This phenomenon presents problems in the development of clinical treatments and medicines against envenomation. The venomous giant jellyfish Nemopilema nomurai, Scyphozoan, is a blooming jellyfish species in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea that causes numerous jellyfish sting cases every year. Metalloprotease and phospholipase A2 (PLA2) are the main components in Nemopilema nomurai venom and may activate many toxicities, such as hemolysis, inflammation and lethality. Geographical variation in the content and activity of these enzymes may cause different symptoms and therapeutic problems. For the first time, we verified metalloprotease and PLA2 geographical variation in Nemopilema nomurai venom by performing a comparative analysis of 31 venom samples by SDS-PAGE, analyzing protease zymography, enzymatic activity, and drawing contour maps. Band locations and intensities of SDS-PAGE and protease zymograms showed geographical differences. The enzymatic activities of both metalloprotease and PLA2 showed a trend of geographic regularity. The distribution patterns of these activities are directly shown in contour maps. Metalloproteinase activity was lower near the coast. PLA2-like activity was lower in the Southern Yellow Sea. We surmised that metalloproteinase and PLA2-like activities might be related to venom ontogeny and species abundance respectively, and influenced by similar environmental factors. This study provides a theoretical basis for further ecological and medical studies of Nemopilema nomurai jellyfish venom.
... Research on scorpion venoms has been largely restricted to a few species within the medically important Buthidae family, most of the studies deal with scorpions from the North Africa area, continental America, China, India and the Caucasian regions, but far less is known about scorpion from other regions, including the Caribbean Islands. Natural selection and the ecological environment where these animals live are considered major facts that should define the substantial biodiversity of pharmacologically active components contained in animal venoms (Rodríguez-Ravelo et al., 2013). ...
... This method does not damage animal integrity and allows the best yields compared to other methods (Tobassum et al., 2018). Proteomic characterization was performed based on previously results of Rodríguez-Ravelo et al. (2013). Molecular mass data for the R. junceus venom from each district were determined on the LCQFleetThermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (San Jose, CA, USA) mass spectrometer. ...
... This variability in venom composition supposes that an expected pharmacological effect would not be reached with scorpions collected from different areas of Cuba, in general, and from the Moanicum sector, in particular. The most illustrative case of the biomedical implications of this variation was observed with the divergence of R. junceus venom components patented by Díaz-García et al. (2012), whose molecular masses were not confirmed in the peptides fingerprint obtained by Rodríguez-Ravelo et al. (2013;. In this sense, Zancolli et al. (2019) stated that the proteomics of individual snake toxins was invariably associated with the presence or absence of the coding genes. ...
Context: In Cuba, the venom of the endemic scorpion Rhopalurus junceus has been used in traditional medicine for cancer treatment. The genetic variability in populations from distinct origin and differences in the composition of venom –a little explored topic- could influence the pharmacological effects of products used in medical practice. Aims: To characterize the populations of R. junceus from six different districts of the Moanicum sector in northeastern Cuba, taking into account the variations in the sequences of cytochrome oxidase subunit I gene (COI) and peptide masses of venom. Methods: For the genetic characterization, a 658 bp gene fragment of COI was amplified by PCR. The genetic structure of populations was analyzed hierarchically, using an analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA). In proteomic analysis, molecular masses of venom constituents were arranged in increasing order, and different components were considered when masses differed by 2 Da. Results: R. junceus species in the six districts studied in the Moanicum sector belong to different populations. The sequences of COI gene showed high levels of genetic variability, recovering 47 haplotypes (87% unique). The composition of the venom was also significantly different between the districts. The most abundant components presented masses of 3-6 kDa (K+-channel specific peptides) and 6,1-10 kDa (Na+-channel specific peptides). Conclusions: Populations of R. junceus showed high genetic differentiation and a broad intraspecific variation in the venom peptides (3-10 kDa) in six districts of Moanicum sector of Cuba. This richness in scorpion varieties with different toxins profile should be considered for pharmacological applications.
... Scorpions are predatory arachnids with a venomous aculeus at the end of their tail for hunting and defense. Scorpion venom also contains complex toxic peptides, and several scorpion venom have been reported to have geographical variations, including Mesobuthus tamulus [63], Scorpio maurus palmatus [64], Tityus trivittatus [65], Rhopalurus junceus [66], Centruroides sculpturatus [67], and Lychas mucronatus [68]. ...
... They found that the primary structure and abundance of some venom peptides and proteins were altered, such as NaTx (toxins specific for sodium channels) [68]. Different from these results, Rodriguez-Ravelo et al. compared the venom compositions of the Cuban scorpion Rhopalurus junceus in different geographical areas of the country by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and found that the venom of these scorpions from different geographical areas seemed to be similar [66]. On the other hand, Schaffrath et al. used geographically separated scorpion venom for species identification. ...
Geographical variation of animal venom is common among venomous animals. This kind of intraspecific variation based on geographical location mainly concerned from envenomation cases and brought new problems in animal venom studies, including venom components regulatory mechanisms, differentiation of venom activities, and clinical treatment methods. At present, food is considered as the most related factor influencing venom development. Related research defined the variational venomous animal species by the comparison of venom components and activities in snakes, jellyfish, scorpions, cone snails, ants, parasitoid wasps, spiders and toads. In snake venom studies, researchers found that antivenom effectiveness was variated to different located venom samples. As described in some snake venom research, developing region-specific antivenom is the development trend. The difficulties of developing region-specific antivenom and theoretical solutions have been discussed. This review summarized biological studies of animal venom geographical variation by species, compared venom components and major biological activities of the vary venom from the same species, and listed the basic methods in comparing venom protein compositions and major toxicity differences to provide a comprehensive reference.
