title: Gene expression profiling of the venom gland from the Venezuelan mapanare (Bothrops colombiensis) using expressed sequence tags (ESTs).
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Bothrops colombiensis is a highly dangerous pit viper and responsible for over 70% of snakebites in Venezuela. Although the composition in B. colombiensis venom has been identified using a proteome analysis, the venom gland transcriptome is currently lacking.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We constructed a cDNA library from the venom gland of B. colombiensis, and a set of 729 high quality expressed sequence tags (ESTs) was identified. A total number of 344 ESTs (47.2% of total ESTs) was related to toxins. The most abundant toxin transcripts were metalloproteinases (37.5%), phospholipases A2s (PLA2, 29.7%), and serine proteinases (11.9%). Minor toxin transcripts were linked to waprins (5.5%), C-type lectins (4.1%), ATPases (2.9%), cysteine-rich secretory proteins (CRISP, 2.3%), snake venom vascular endothelium growth factors (svVEGF, 2.3%), L-amino acid oxidases (2%), and other putative toxins (1.7%). While 160 ESTs (22% of total ESTs) coded for translation proteins, regulatory proteins, ribosomal proteins, elongation factors, release factors, metabolic proteins, and immune response proteins. Other proteins detected in the transcriptome (87 ESTs, 11.9% of total ESTs) were undescribed proteins with unknown functions. The remaining 138 (18.9%) cDNAs had no match with known GenBank accessions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study represents the analysis of transcript expressions and provides a physical resource of unique genes for further study of gene function and the development of novel molecules for medical applications.
authors.affiliation: National Natural Toxins Research Center, Department of Chemistry, Texas A and M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, USA. kums2022@tamuk.edu.
authors.forename: Montamas
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Suntravat
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Inmunoquímica y Ultraestructura, Instituto Anatómico de la Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela. nuzcateguia@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Néstor L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Uzcategui
authors.affiliation: National Natural Toxins Research Center, Department of Chemistry, Texas A and M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, USA. b-a-s_tennis@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Chairat
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Atphaisit
authors.affiliation: National Natural Toxins Research Center, Department of Chemistry, Texas A and M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, USA. tjhelmke@ymail.com.
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Helmke
authors.affiliation: National Natural Toxins Research Center, Department of Chemistry, Texas A and M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, USA. kusel000@tamuk.edu.
authors.forename: Sara E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Lucena
authors.affiliation: National Natural Toxins Research Center, Department of Chemistry, Texas A and M University-Kingsville, Kingsville, USA. elda.sanchez@tamuk.edu.
authors.forename: Elda E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Sánchez
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Inmunoquímica y Ultraestructura, Instituto Anatómico de la Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela. rodriguezacosta1946@yahoo.es.
authors.forename: Alexis Rodríguez
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Acosta
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017837:Bothrops / Q000235:genetics*; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D059467:Transcriptome; D014688:Venoms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014688:Venoms