title: Neonate-to-adult transition of snake venomics in the short-tailed pit viper, Gloydius brevicaudus.
abstract: Snake venoms undergo ontogenetic shifts in biochemical and pharmacological activities. This may be related to variation in venom components associated with the ontogenetic shift in diet. We used the short-tailed pit viper Gloydius brevicaudus that displays ontogenetic shifts in diet to examine whether the species displays a neonate-to-adult transition of snake venomics. Venoms from neonates and adults were pooled separately and then analyzed by 2-DE, MALDI-TOF-MS/MS and iTRAQ technologies. The 2-DE profiles showed that the main components in both types of venoms were acidic proteins, and that neonates and adults differed in snake venomics. The proteins with molecular masses/pI of ~12-39kDa/4.0-4.6, ~36-57kDa/5.6-7.0 and ~65-92kDa/4.5-5.8 were more abundant in the neonate venom, while the proteins with molecular masses/pI of ~12-19kDa/4.6-6.4, ~23-30kDa/5.4-6.3 and ~35-62kDa/4.6-5.4 were more abundant in the adult venom. The iTRAQ analysis showed quantitative changes in various toxin families, including mainly metalloproteinases, serine proteinases, phospholipase A2s and C-type lectins. The N-deglycosylation analysis demonstrated that glycosylation was an important post-translational modification of snake venom. Our results show a neonate-to-adult transition of snake venomics in G. brevicaudus. Such a transition might be driven by the divergence in dietary habits between neonates and adults.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study is first to demonstrate a neonate-to-adult transition of snake venomics in G. brevicaudus, and the results will be helpful in predicting and treating clinical pathologic symptoms caused by the snake at different developmental stages.
authors.affiliation: Hangzhou Key Laboratory for Animal Adaptation and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310036, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Fang
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Yan-Fu
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: Xiu-Qin
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ji
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D020543:Proteome / Q000378:metabolism*; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods; D014757:Viper Venoms / Q000378:metabolism*; D017819:Viperidae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D020543:Proteome; D014757:Viper Venoms