Haven’t been observed in any other scorpion species studied to
Haven’t been observed in any other scorpion species studied to date. Conclusion: This work provides the first set of cDNAs from Scorpiops jendeki, and one of the few transcriptomic analyses from a scorpion. This allows the characterization of a large number of venom molecules, belonging to either known or atypical types of scorpion venom peptides and proteins. Besides, our work could provide some clues to the evolution of the scorpion venom arsenal by comparison with venom data from other scorpion lineages.BackgroundBased on cladistic morphological analysis, the extant scorpions can be phylogenetically divided into 14 families[1]. All scorpions possess a homologous venom apparatus which consists of the vesicle holding a pair of venom glands and the hypodermic aculeus used to inject the venom[2]. Scorpion venom is a combinatorial library PubMed ID:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25609842 ofpeptides and proteins which could cause toxicological responses and can be candidates for drug design and development[3]. The general compositions of scorpion venoms vary among PF-04418948 web different families. For instance, in a comparative LC/MS analysis of two scorpion species from the families Buthidae and Ischnuridae, vast abundance difference was observed in venom components withPage 1 of(page number not for citation purposes)BMC Genomics 2009, 10:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2164/10/molecular size from 5000 to 10,000 Da[4]. Furthermore, such differences in venom compositions could also be observed from genus to genus, and even between different species within a genus[5,6]. Hundreds of venom peptides and proteins have been characterized from various scorpion species[7]. It is noteworthy that most of these venom molecules are obtained by either bioassay-guided fractionation or PCR-based methods conducted with cDNA libraries. Due to their medical importance, most research performed to date has focused on Buthidae scorpions. Buthid venoms mainly consist of four different families of neurotoxins which specifically target ion channels, including sodium channels, potassium channels, chloride channels, and calcium channels [8-10]. However, in contrary to buthids, little attention has been paid to the other thirteen non-Buthidae families. As several classes of venom peptides and proteins from non-Buthidae scorpions were shown to possess unique primary sequences and biological activity, it is worth exploring the venom compositions of non-Buthidae scorpions[4]. The scorpion Scorpiops jendeki is distributed in Yunnan province, Southwest China[11]. It was once considered to be a member of the family Scorpiopidae, but now it is classified into the family Euscorpiidae after a very thorough phylogenetic analysis[1]. The Euscorpiidae family is among PubMed ID:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26437915 the most widely distributed groups of extant scorpions, and it covers Europe, Asia, Africa, and America[1]. Euscorpiids are considered to be harmless scorpions which possess no threat to human health. So far, euscorpiid venoms haven’t been studied yet. Different from bioassay-guided isolation, an “-ome” approach such as transcriptomic or proteomic analysis could help uncover the real diversity of scorpion venom components. Not only known types of venom peptides and proteins but also atypical venom molecules could be obtained by such an approach. Until now, proteomic studies have been employed in assessing the diversity of venom compositions from several scorpion species[12]. Only one transcriptomic analysis has been conducted on the venom gland of a scorpion[13]. An extensiv.