title: Understanding and utilising mammalian venom via a platypus venom transcriptome.
abstract: Only five mammalian species are known to be venomous, and while a large amount of research has been carried out on reptile venom, mammalian venom has been poorly studied to date. Here we describe the status of current research into the venom of the platypus, a semi-aquatic egg-laying Australian mammal, and discuss our approach to platypus venom transcriptomics. We propose that such construction and analysis of mammalian venom transcriptomes from small samples of venom gland, in tandem with proteomics studies, will allow the identification of the full range of mammalian venom components. Functional studies and pharmacological evaluation of the identified toxins will then lay the foundations for the future development of novel biomedical substances. A large range of useful molecules have already been identified in snake venom, and many of these are currently in use in human medicine. It is therefore hoped that this basic research to identify the constituents of platypus venom will eventually yield novel drugs and new targets for painkillers.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Veterinary Science, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Camilla M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Whittington
authors.forename: Jennifer M S
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Wesley C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Warren
authors.forename: Anthony T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Papenfuss
authors.forename: Allan M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Torres
authors.forename: Philip W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Kuchel
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Belov
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008322:Mammals; D008954:Models, Biological; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D010987:Platypus; D011487:Protein Conformation; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014688:Venoms / Q000032:analysis* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014688:Venoms