Key Laboratory of Ethnic Medical Resources Research and Southeast Asian International Cooperation of Yunnan Universities, Department of Biology and Chemistry, Puer University, Puer, Yunnan 665000, China.
Engineering Research Center for Exploitation and Utilization of Leech Resources in Universities of Yunnan Province, School of Agronomy and Life Sciences, Kunming University, Kunming, Yunnan 650214, China.
Zool Res. 2020 Mar 18;41(2):138-147. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2020.019.
As the oldest venomous animals, centipedes use their venom as a weapon to attack prey and for protection. Centipede venom, which contains many bioactive and pharmacologically active compounds, has been used for centuries in Chinese medicine, as shown by ancient records. Based on comparative analysis, we revealed the diversity of and differences in centipede toxin-like molecules , a substitute pharmaceutical material used in China, and . More than 6 000 peptides isolated from the venom were identified by electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) and inferred from the transcriptome. As a result, in the proteome of , 246 unique proteins were identified: one in five were toxin-like proteins or putative toxins with unknown function, accounting for a lower percentage of total proteins than that in . Transcriptome mining identified approximately 10 times more toxin-like proteins, which can characterize the precursor structures of mature toxin-like peptides. However, the constitution and quantity of the toxin transcripts in these two centipedes were similar. In toxicity assays, the crude venom showed strong insecticidal and hemolytic activity. These findings highlight the extensive diversity of toxin-like proteins in and provide a new foundation for the medical-pharmaceutical use of centipede toxin-like proteins.
作为最古老的有毒动物，蜈蚣使用毒液作为攻击猎物和保护自己的武器。蜈蚣毒液含有许多生物活性和药理活性化合物，在中国医药中已有数百年的应用历史，这一点可以从古代文献中得到证明。基于比较分析，我们揭示了蜈蚣毒素样分子的多样性和差异，这些分子是中国的一种替代药用物质，也是。通过电喷雾电离串联质谱（ESI-MS/MS）鉴定和从转录组推断，从毒液中分离出超过 6000 种肽。结果表明，在 Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans 的蛋白质组中鉴定出 246 种独特的蛋白质：五分之一是毒素样蛋白或具有未知功能的假定毒素，其占总蛋白的比例低于 Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans。转录组挖掘鉴定出大约 10 倍的毒素样蛋白，这些蛋白可以表征成熟毒素样肽的前体结构。然而，这两种蜈蚣的毒素转录本的组成和数量相似。在毒性试验中，粗毒液表现出强烈的杀虫和溶血活性。这些发现突出了蜈蚣毒素样蛋白的广泛多样性，并为蜈蚣毒素样蛋白的医学药用提供了新的基础。
