Project description:Acanthoscurria juruenicola is an Amazonian tarantula spider described for the first time a century ago. Specimens of both genders are similar in size and in most morphological aspects, but ecological behavior and their venom composition remained unknown to date. Here we present the peptidomics characterization of the spider venom by a combination of mass spectrometric analysis of both native and digested peptides, venom gland transcriptomics and bioinformatics. A total of 367 native features were observed in the venom peptidome. Seventeen cysteine-rich peptides were simultaneously observed in the transcriptome and in the mass spectrometric experiments, from which fourteen were completely sequenced in the mature forms. The mature peptides have 3-5 disulfide bonds and cover the 3.7-8.6 kDa mass range. Moreover, in vivo paralytic activities of the whole venom were observed in crickets. In silico analysis indicated that all mature peptides are potentially antimicrobial and two may be potential anticancer agents. The antimicrobial activity was experimentally confirmed for the peptide Ap1a against Micrococcus luteus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans.
Project description:Acanthoscurria juruenicola is an Amazonian tarantula spider described for the first time a century ago. Specimens of both genders are similar in size and in most morphological aspects, but ecological behavior and their venom composition remained unknown to date. Here we present the trascriptomics, proteomics and peptidomics characterization of the spider venom by a combination of mass spectrometric analysis of both native and digested peptides, venom gland transcriptomics and bioinformatics.
Project description:Acanthoscurria gomesiana is a Brazilian spider from the Theraphosidae family inhabiting regions of Southeastern Brazil. Potent antimicrobial peptides as gomesin and acanthoscurrin have been discovered from the spider hemolymph in previous works. Spider venoms are also recognized as sources of biologically active peptides, however the venom peptidome of A. gomesiana remained unexplored to date. In this work, a MS-based workflow was applied to the investigation of the spider venom peptidome. Data-independent and data-dependent LC-MS/MS acquisitions of intact peptides and of peptides submitted to multiple enzyme digestions, followed by automated chromatographic alignment, de novo analysis, database and homology searches with manual validations showed that the venom is composed by less than 165 features, with masses ranging from 0.4-15.8 kDa. A total of 135 peptides from 17 proteins were identified, including three new mature peptides: U1-TRTX-Agm1a, U1-TRTX-Agm2a and U1-TRTX-Agm3a, containing 3, 4 and 3 disulfide bonds, respectively. U1-TRTX-Agm1a differed by only one amino acid from U1-TRTX-Ap1a from A. paulensis and U1-TRTX-Agm2a was derived from the genicutoxin-D1 precursor from A. geniculata. These toxins have potential applications as antimicrobial agents, as the peptide fraction of A. gomesiana showed activity against Escherichia coli strains.