Proteomic analysis of the venom from the scorpion Mesobuthus martensii.
The scorpion Mesobuthus martensii is the most populous species in eastern Asian countries, and several toxic components have been identified from their venoms. Nevertheless, a complete proteomic profile of the venom of M. martensii is still not available. In this study, the venom of M. martensii was analyzed by comprehensive proteomic approaches. 153 fractions were isolated from the M. martensii venom by 2-DE, SDS-PAGE and RP-HPLC. The ESI-Q-TOF MS results of all fractions were used to search the scorpion genomic and transcriptomic databases. Totally, 227 non-redundant protein sequences were unambiguously identified, composed of 134 previously known and 93 previously unknown proteins. Among 134 previously known proteins, 115 proteins were firstly confirmed from the M. martensii crude venom and 19 toxins were confirmed once again, involving 43 typical toxins, 7 atypical toxins, 12 venom enzymes and 72 cell associated proteins. In typical toxins, 7 novel-toxin sequences were identified, including 3 Na(+)-channel toxins, 3K(+)-channel toxins and 1 no-annotation toxin. These results increased 230% (115/50) venom components compared with previous studies from the M. martensii venom, especially 50% (24/48) typical toxins. Additionally, a mass fingerprint obtained by MALDI-TOF MS indicated that the scorpion venom contained more than 200 different molecular mass components.


CONCLUSIONS
This work firstly gave a systematic investigation of the M. martensii venom by combined proteomics strategy coupled with genomics and transcriptomics. A large number of protein components were unambiguously identified from the venom of M. martensii, most of which were confirmed for the first time. We also contributed 7 novel-toxin sequences and 93 protein sequences previously unknown to be part of the venom, for which we assigned potential biological functions. Besides, we obtained a mass fingerprint of the M. martensii venom. Together, our study not only provides the most comprehensive catalog of the molecular diversity of the M. martensii venom at the proteomic level, but also enriches the composition information of scorpion venom.
State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
Xiaobo
X
Xu
Key Laboratory of Protein Chemistry and Developmental Biology of Education Ministry of China, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, PR China.
Zhigui
Z
Duan
State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
Zhiyong
Z
Di
State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
Yawen
Y
He
Key Laboratory of Protein Chemistry and Developmental Biology of Education Ministry of China, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, PR China.
Jianglin
J
Li
State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
Zhongjie
Z
Li
Key Laboratory of Protein Chemistry and Developmental Biology of Education Ministry of China, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, PR China.
Chunliang
C
Xie
Key Laboratory of Protein Chemistry and Developmental Biology of Education Ministry of China, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, PR China.
Xiongzhi
X
Zeng
State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
Zhijian
Z
Cao
State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China.
Yingliang
Y
Wu
Key Laboratory of Protein Chemistry and Developmental Biology of Education Ministry of China, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, PR China. Electronic address: liangsp@hunnu.edu.cn.
Songping
S
Liang
State Key Laboratory of Virology, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, PR China. Electronic address: liwxlab@whu.edu.cn.
Wenxin
W
Li
D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D018118:Chloride Channels / Q000737:chemistry; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D023281:Genomics; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000737:chemistry; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D012604:Scorpion Venoms / Q000737:chemistry*; D012605:Scorpions / Q000737:chemistry*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015222:Sodium Channels / Q000737:chemistry; D021241:Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry; D059467:Transcriptome
D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D018118:Chloride Channels; D015221:Potassium Channels; D012604:Scorpion Venoms; D015222:Sodium Channels
Components identification; Mass fingerprint; Mass spectrometry; Mesobuthus martensii; Proteomics; Scorpion venom