title: Firing the sting: chemically induced discharge of cnidae reveals novel proteins and peptides from box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) venom.
abstract: Cnidarian venom research has lagged behind other toxinological fields due to technical difficulties in recovery of the complex venom from the microscopic nematocysts. Here we report a newly developed rapid, repeatable and cost effective technique of venom preparation, using ethanol to induce nematocyst discharge and to recover venom contents in one step. Our model species was the Australian box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri), which has a notable impact on public health. By utilizing scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy, we examined nematocyst external morphology before and after ethanol treatment and verified nematocyst discharge. Further, to investigate nematocyst content or "venom" recovery, we utilized both top-down and bottom-up transcriptomics-proteomics approaches and compared the proteome profile of this new ethanol recovery based method to a previously reported high activity and recovery protocol, based upon density purified intact cnidae and pressure induced disruption. In addition to recovering previously characterized box jellyfish toxins, including CfTX-A/B and CfTX-1, we recovered putative metalloproteases and novel expression of a small serine protease inhibitor. This study not only reveals a much more complex toxin profile of Australian box jellyfish venom but also suggests that ethanol extraction method could augment future cnidarian venom proteomics research efforts.
authors: Venom Evolution Lab, School of Biological Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. m.jouiaei@uq.edu.au.|Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. m.jouiaei@uq.edu.au.
authors: Mahdokht
authors: M
authors: Jouiaei
authors: Alistair Reid Venom Research Unit, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK. nicholas.casewell@lstmed.ac.uk.
authors: Nicholas R
authors: NR
authors: Casewell
authors: Pacific Cnidaria Research Lab, Department of Tropical Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. ayanagih@hawaii.edu.
authors: Angel A
authors: AA
authors: Yanagihara
authors: School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. a.nouwens@uq.edu.au.
authors: Amanda
authors: A
authors: Nouwens
authors: Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis and School of Biological Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. b.cribb@uq.edu.au.
authors: Bronwen W
authors: BW
authors: Cribb
authors: School of Biomedical Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. darryl.whitehead@uq.edu.au.
authors: Darryl
authors: D
authors: Whitehead
authors: Venom Evolution Lab, School of Biological Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. tnwjackson@gmail.com.|Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. tnwjackson@gmail.com.
authors: Timothy N W
authors: TN
authors: Jackson
authors: Venom Evolution Lab, School of Biological Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. dr.syedabidali@gmail.com.|HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan. dr.syedabidali@gmail.com.
authors: Syed A
authors: SA
authors: Ali
authors: Bioinformatics Unit, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK. Simon.Wagstaff@lstmed.ac.uk.
authors: Simon C
authors: SC
authors: Wagstaff
authors: Venom Evolution Lab, School of Biological Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. jcoludar@gmail.com.|Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. jcoludar@gmail.com.
authors: Ivan
authors: I
authors: Koludarov
authors: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. p.alewood@imb.uq.edu.au.
authors: Paul
authors: P
authors: Alewood
authors: Venom Evolution Lab, School of Biological Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. mjhansen@uqconnect.edu.au.
authors: Jay
authors: J
authors: Hansen
authors: Venom Evolution Lab, School of Biological Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. bgfry@uq.edu.au.|Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia. bgfry@uq.edu.au.
authors: Bryan G
authors: BG
authors: Fry
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001315:Australia; D003064:Cnidarian Venoms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D037462:Cubozoa / Q000737:chemistry*; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D058894:Nematocyst / Q000378:metabolism; D020543:Proteome / Q000737:chemistry; D040901:Proteomics; D015842:Serine Proteinase Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D003064:Cnidarian Venoms; D020543:Proteome; D015842:Serine Proteinase Inhibitors; C524740:toxin-1, Chironex fleckeri