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Oliveira LD, Nachtigall PG, Vialla VL, Campos PF, Costa-Neves AD, Zaher H, Silva NJD, Grazziotin FG, Wilkinson M, Junqueira-de-Azevedo ILM. Comparing morphological and secretory aspects of cephalic glands among the New World coral snakes brings novel insights on their biological roles. Toxicon 2023; 234:107285. [PMID: 37683698 DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2023.107285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Revised: 09/05/2023] [Accepted: 09/06/2023] [Indexed: 09/10/2023]
Abstract
Oral and other cephalic glands have been surveyed by several studies with distinct purposes. Despite the wide diversity and medical relevance of the New World coral snakes, studies focusing on understanding the biological roles of the glands within this group are still scarce. Specifically, the venom glands of some coral snakes were previously investigated but all other cephalic glands remain uncharacterized. In this sense, performing morphological and molecular analysis of these glands may help better understand their biological role. Here, we studied the morphology of the venom, infralabial, rictal, and harderian glands of thirteen species of Micrurus and Micruroides euryxanthus. We also performed a molecular characterization of these glands from selected species of Micrurus using transcriptomic and proteomic approaches. We described substantial morphological variation in the cephalic glands of New World coral snakes and structural evidence for protein-secreting cells in the inferior rictal glands. Our molecular analysis revealed that the venom glands, as expected, are majorly devoted to toxin production, however, the infralabial and inferior rictal glands also expressed some toxin genes at low to medium levels, despite the marked morphological differences. On the other hand, the harderian glands were dominated by the expression of lipocalins, but do not produce toxins. Our integrative analysis, including the prediction of biological processes and pathways, helped decipher some important traits of cephalic glands and better understand their biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leonardo de Oliveira
- Laboratório de Toxinologia Aplicada, Centre of Toxins, Immune-Response and Cell Signaling (CeTICS), Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, 05503-900, Brazil; Herpetology, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, United Kingdom.
| | - Pedro Gabriel Nachtigall
- Laboratório de Toxinologia Aplicada, Centre of Toxins, Immune-Response and Cell Signaling (CeTICS), Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, 05503-900, Brazil
| | - Vincent Louis Vialla
- Laboratório de Toxinologia Aplicada, Centre of Toxins, Immune-Response and Cell Signaling (CeTICS), Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, 05503-900, Brazil
| | - Pollyanna F Campos
- Laboratório de Toxinologia Aplicada, Centre of Toxins, Immune-Response and Cell Signaling (CeTICS), Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, 05503-900, Brazil
| | | | - Hussam Zaher
- Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo, Avenida Nazaré 481, Ipiranga, 04263-000, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Nelson Jorge da Silva
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Ambientais e Saúde, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Goiás, Goiânia, Goiás, 74605-140, Brazil
| | - Felipe G Grazziotin
- Laboratório de Coleções Zoológicas, Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, 05503-900, Brazil
| | - Mark Wilkinson
- Herpetology, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, United Kingdom
| | - Inácio L M Junqueira-de-Azevedo
- Laboratório de Toxinologia Aplicada, Centre of Toxins, Immune-Response and Cell Signaling (CeTICS), Instituto Butantan, São Paulo, 05503-900, Brazil
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Oliveira DD, Guerra-Duarte C, Stransky S, Scussel R, Pereira de Castro KL, Costal-Oliveira F, Aragão M, Oliveira-Souza GD, Saavedra-Langer R, Trevisan G, Bonilla-Ferreyra C, Chávez-Olórtegui C, Machado-de-Ávila RA. Toxic and antigenic characterization of Peruvian Micrurus surinamensis coral snake venom. Toxicon 2023; 225:107056. [PMID: 36804442 DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2023.107056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 02/18/2023]
Abstract
Micrurus surinamensis is a semi-aquatic coral snake found in primary forest region and can cause relevant human accidents. In this work we investigated the toxic and antigenic activities of the Peruvian Micrurus surinamensis venom (MsV). We found that MsV show hyaluronidase activity but lack LAAO and PLA2 enzymatic activities. Interestingly, MsV induce edematogenic responses but cannot cause nociceptive effects. Furthermore, MsV can reduce in vitro cell viability in MGSO-3 cell line derived from human breast cancer tissue. To evaluate its antigenic potential, rabbits were immunized with MsV, which proved to be immunogenic. ELISA, immunobloting and in vivo neutralization assays demonstrated that the specific rabbit anti-MsV antivenom is more efficient than the therapeutic Brazilian antivenom in recognizing and neutralizing the lethal activity of MsV. MsV differs in protein profile and biological activities from M. frontalis venom (MfV), used as control, which impairs its recognition and neutralization by Brazilian therapeutic anti-elapidic antivenom. We performed a SPOT immunoassay for the identification of B-cell linear epitopes in the main toxins described for MsV targeted by the elicited neutralizing antibodies previously produced. A membrane containing 15-mer peptides representing the sequences of five 3TFxs and five PLA2s was produced and probed with anti- MsV antibodies. Results revealed important regions in 3FTx toxins for venom neutralization. Identifying the main MsV components and its biological activities can be helpful in guiding the production of antivenoms and in the optimization of treatment for coral snake envenomation in Brazil.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daysiane de Oliveira
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense, Criciúma, Brazil
| | - Clara Guerra-Duarte
- Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento, Fundação Ezequiel Dias, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Stephanie Stransky
- Department of Biochemistry, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, United States
| | - Rahisa Scussel
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências da Saúde, Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense, Criciúma, Brazil
| | | | - Fernanda Costal-Oliveira
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Matheus Aragão
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Gladstony de Oliveira-Souza
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Rafael Saavedra-Langer
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
| | - Gabriela Trevisan
- Programa de Pós-Graduação em Farmacologia, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil
| | | | - Carlos Chávez-Olórtegui
- Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
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Abstract
The deleterious consequences of snake envenomation are due to the extreme protein complexity of snake venoms. Therefore, the identification of their components is crucial for understanding the clinical manifestations of envenomation pathophysiology and for the development of effective antivenoms. In addition, snake venoms are considered as libraries of bioactive molecules that can be used to develop innovative drugs. Numerous separation and analytical techniques are combined to study snake venom composition including chromatographic techniques such as size exclusion and RP-HPLC and electrophoretic techniques. Herein, we present in detail these existing techniques and their applications in snake venom research. In the first part, we discuss the different possible technical combinations that could be used to isolate and purify SV proteins using what is known as bioassay-guided fractionation. In the second part, we describe four different proteomic strategies that could be applied for venomics studies to evaluate whole venom composition, including the mostly used technique: RP-HPLC. Eventually, we show that to date, there is no standard technique used for the separation of all snake venoms. Thus, different combinations might be developed, taking into consideration the main objective of the study, the available resources, and the properties of the target molecules to be isolated.
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