title: Transcriptomic analysis of the venom glands from the scorpion Hadogenes troglodytes revealed unique and extremely high diversity of the venom peptides.
abstract: Hadogenes is a genus of large African scorpions with 18 described species. However, little is known about the venom peptide composition of any species from Hadogenes so far. Here, we fully explored the composition of venom gland peptides from Hadogenes troglodytes using transcriptomic approach. We discovered 121 novel peptides from the scorpion, including 20 new-type peptides cross-linked with one, two, three, four or seven disulfide bridges, respectively, 11 novel K+-channel toxin-like peptides, 2 novel ryanodine receptors-specific toxin-like peptides, a unique peptide containing the cysteine knots of spider toxins, 15 novel La1-like toxins, 3 novel TIL domain-containing peptides, 5 novel peptides with atypical cysteine patterns, 19 novel antimicrobial peptides, 6 novel cysteine-free peptides and 39 new-type cysteine-free peptides. Among them, the new-type peptides are largely dominant; this highlights the unique diversity of the venom gland peptides from H. troglodytes. Some of the new peptides would serve as new molecular probes for the investigations of cellular ion channels and other receptors, or offer new templates for the development of therapeutic drugs for the treatment of ion channel-associated diseases, and infections caused by antibiotics-resistant pathogens.
  
  
  
  In this study, we fully explored the composition of venom gland peptides from the scorpion Hadogenes troglodytes using transcriptomic approach. We discovered a total of 121 novel peptides from the venom glands of the scorpion, of which new-type peptides are largely dominant. These data highlight the unique diversity of the venom gland peptides from the scorpion H. troglodytes, gain insights into new mechanisms for the scorpion to subdue its prey and predators, and enlarge the protein database of scorpion venom glands. The discovery of a lot of novel peptides provides new templates for the development of therapeutic drugs, and offers new molecular materials for the basic researches of various cellular receptors, and for the evolutionary investigations of scorpion toxins.
authors: Department of Biological Science and Technology, School of Environmental Studies & State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Zhong
authors: Department of Biological Science and Technology, School of Environmental Studies & State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China. Electronic address: xianchun.zeng@gmail.com.
authors: Xian-Chun
authors: XC
authors: Zeng
authors: Department of Biological Science and Technology, School of Environmental Studies & State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
authors: Xin
authors: X
authors: Zeng
authors: Department of Biological Science and Technology, School of Environmental Studies & State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
authors: Yao
authors: Y
authors: Nie
authors: Department of Biological Science and Technology, School of Environmental Studies & State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
authors: Lei
authors: L
authors: Zhang
authors: Department of Biological Science and Technology, School of Environmental Studies & State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
authors: Shifen
authors: S
authors: Wu
authors: Department of Biological Science and Technology, School of Environmental Studies & State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
authors: Aorigele
authors: A
authors: Bao
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004220:Disulfides / Q000378:metabolism; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012604:Scorpion Venoms / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D012605:Scorpions / Q000378:metabolism*; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D004220:Disulfides; D010455:Peptides; D012604:Scorpion Venoms
keywords: Hadogenes troglodytes; Scorpion toxin; Scorpion venom peptide; Transcriptome; Venom composition; Venomics