Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Biophore, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Swiss Ornithological Institute, Valais Field Station, Rue du Rhône 11, CH-1950 Sion, Switzerland.
Toxins (Basel). 2019 Dec 19;12(1):4. doi: 10.3390/toxins12010004.
Venomous animals use venom, a complex biofluid composed of unique mixtures of proteins and peptides, for either predation or defense. Bumblebees, which occur in various habitats due to their unique thermoregulatory properties, mainly use venom for defense. Herein, we conducted an exploratory analysis of the venom composition of a bumblebee species () along an elevation gradient in the western Swiss Alps using shot-gun proteomic approaches to assess whether their defense mechanism varies along the gradient. The gradient was characterized by high temperatures and low humidity at low elevations and low temperatures and high humidity at high elevations. Venom composition is changing along the elevation gradient, with proteomic variation in the abundances of pain-inducing and allergenic proteins. In particular, the abundance of phospholipase A-like, the main component of bumblebee venom, gradually decreases toward higher elevation (lower temperature), suggesting venom alteration and thus a decrease in bumblebee defense towards harsher environments. Larger datasets may complement this study to validate the observed novel trends.
有毒动物利用毒液——一种由独特的蛋白质和肽混合物组成的复杂生物流体——进行捕食或防御。由于其独特的体温调节特性，大黄蜂存在于各种栖息地，主要用于防御。在此，我们采用鸟枪法蛋白质组学方法对瑞士西部阿尔卑斯山海拔梯度上的一种大黄蜂物种的毒液成分进行了探索性分析，以评估其防御机制是否沿梯度变化。该梯度的特点是低海拔地区高温低湿，高海拔地区低温高湿。毒液成分沿海拔梯度发生变化，引起疼痛和过敏的蛋白质丰度存在蛋白质组学差异。特别是，大黄蜂毒液的主要成分——类磷脂酶 A 的丰度逐渐向高海拔（低温）方向降低，表明毒液发生了变化，大黄蜂的防御能力也随之降低，以适应更恶劣的环境。更大的数据集可能会补充这项研究，以验证所观察到的新趋势。
