Transcriptome and proteome of the highly neurotoxic venom of Gloydius intermedius

Abstract The venomics of Gloydius intermedius were investigated using expressed sequence tags (ESTs) analyses, 2D gel-electrophoresis combined with MALDI-TOF/TOF, and LC-MS/MS. A total of 1920 ESTs from the venom gland cDNA library were sequenced; 74% of them belonged to toxin-families. The four most abundant families among the toxin transcripts were: serine protease (SP, 36.2%), bradykinin potentiating peptide (25.3%), l -amino acid oxidase (LAAO, 13.1%), and phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 , 9.9%). Moreover, the full sequences of four PLA 2 s, eight SPs, cysteine-rich secretory protein (CRISP), C-type-lectin-like-protein (CTLP), hyaluronidase, metalloproteinase, and nerve growth factor were deduced from the cDNA sequences. Excluding the CRISP and hyaluronidase, most of the G. intermedius venom proteins bear 92–99% sequence identities to those of other pitviper venoms. The most abundant components are PLA 2 s (37%), SPs (20%) and LAAO (6%), while metalloproteinase, CTLP, and other components each account for G. intermedius and other hemorrhagic pitvipers. The bimorphism of hemorrhagic and neurotoxic venoms among Gloydius is confirmed; our results shed more lights on the co-evolution of both neurotoxicity and hypotension in some viperid venoms.