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Profiling the resting venom gland of the scorpion Tityus stigmurus through a transcriptomic survey.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The scorpion Tityus stigmurus is widely distributed in Northeastern Brazil and known to cause severe human envenoming, inducing pain, hyposthesia, edema, erythema, paresthesia, headaches and vomiting. The present study uses a transcriptomic approach to characterize the gene expression profile from the non-stimulated venom gland of Tityus stigmurus scorpion. RESULTS: A cDNA library was constructed and 540 clones were sequenced and grouped into 153 clusters, with one or more ESTs (expressed sequence tags). Forty-one percent of ESTs belong to recognized toxin-coding sequences, with transcripts encoding antimicrobial toxins (AMP-like) being the most abundant, followed by alfa KTx- like, beta KTx-like, beta NaTx-like and alfa NaTx-like. Our analysis indicated that 34% of the transcripts encode "other possible venom molecules", which correspond to anionic peptides, hypothetical secreted peptides, metalloproteinases, cystein-rich peptides and lectins. Fifteen percent of ESTs are similar to cellular transcripts. Sequences without good matches corresponded to 11%. CONCLUSIONS: This investigation provides the first global view of gene expression of the venom gland from Tityus stigmurus under resting conditions. This approach enables characterization of a large number of venom gland component molecules, which belong either to known or non yet described types of venom peptides and proteins from the Buthidae family.

SUBMITTER: Almeida DD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3444934 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Profiling the resting venom gland of the scorpion Tityus stigmurus through a transcriptomic survey.

Almeida Diego D DD Scortecci Katia C KC Kobashi Leonardo S LS Agnez-Lima Lucymara F LF Medeiros Silvia R B SR Silva-Junior Arnóbio A AA Junqueira-de-Azevedo Inácio de L M Ide L Fernandes-Pedrosa Matheus de F Mde F

BMC genomics 20120801

<h4>Background</h4>The scorpion Tityus stigmurus is widely distributed in Northeastern Brazil and known to cause severe human envenoming, inducing pain, hyposthesia, edema, erythema, paresthesia, headaches and vomiting. The present study uses a transcriptomic approach to characterize the gene expression profile from the non-stimulated venom gland of Tityus stigmurus scorpion.<h4>Results</h4>A cDNA library was constructed and 540 clones were sequenced and grouped into 153 clusters, with one or mo ...[more]

PMID: 22853446

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Dataset Information

Profiling the resting venom gland of the scorpion Tityus stigmurus through a transcriptomic survey.

Publications

Profiling the resting venom gland of the scorpion Tityus stigmurus through a transcriptomic survey.

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