Detection and Quantification of a β-neurotoxin (crotoxin Homologs) in the Venom of the Rattlesnakes and from Mexico

Overview

Journal Toxicon X

Specialty Toxicology

Date 2020 Jun 19

PMID 32550564

Citations 9

Authors

Edgar Neri-Castro

Arely Hernandez-Davila

Alejandro Olvera-Rodriguez

Hector Cardoso-Torres

Melisa Benard-Valle

Elizabeth Bastiaans

Oswaldo Lopez-Gutierrez

Alejandro Alagon

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Snake venom may vary in composition and toxicity across the geographic distribution of a species. In the case of the three species of the Neotropical rattlesnakes and recent research has revealed that their venoms can contain a neurotoxic component (crotoxin homologs), but is not always the case. In the present work, we detected and quantified crotoxin homologs in venom samples from three species distributed across Mexico, to describe variation at the individual and subspecific levels, using slot blot and ELISA immunoassays. We found that all individuals analyzed had substantial percentages of crotoxin homologs in their venoms (7.6-44.3%). In contrast, lacked them completely and six of ten individuals of the species had low percentages (3.0-7.7%). We also found a direct relationship between the lethality of a venom and the percentage of crotoxin homologs it contained, indicating that the quantity of this component influences venom lethality in the rattlesnake .

Citing Articles

Comparative Analysis of Alpha-1 Orthosteric-Site Binding by a Clade of Central American Pit Vipers (Genera , and ).

Jones L, Waite C, Neri-Castro E, Fry B Toxins (Basel). 2023; 15(8).

PMID: 37624244 PMC: 10467085. DOI: 10.3390/toxins15080487.

Sequence Divergence in Venom Genes Within and Between Montane Pitviper (Viperidae: Crotalinae: Cerrophidion) Species is Driven by Mutation-Drift Equilibrium.

Rosales-Garcia R, Rautsaw R, Hofmann E, Grunwald C, Franz-Chavez H, Ahumada-Carrillo I J Mol Evol. 2023; 91(4):514-535.

PMID: 37269364 PMC: 10995822. DOI: 10.1007/s00239-023-10115-2.

Intraspecific Differences in the Venom of from Colombia.

Rodriguez-Vargas A, Vega N, Reyes-Montano E, Corzo G, Neri-Castro E, Clement H Toxins (Basel). 2022; 14(8).

PMID: 36006194 PMC: 9416679. DOI: 10.3390/toxins14080532.

Crotoxin B: Heterologous Expression, Protein Folding, Immunogenic Properties, and Irregular Presence in Crotalid Venoms.

Mejia-Sanchez M, Clement H, Corrales-Garcia L, Olamendi-Portugal T, Carbajal A, Corzo G Toxins (Basel). 2022; 14(6).

PMID: 35737043 PMC: 9228539. DOI: 10.3390/toxins14060382.

Biological and Biochemical Characterization of Coronado Island Rattlesnake () Venom and Antivenom Neutralization.

Franco-Servin C, Neri-Castro E, Benard-Valle M, Alagon A, Rosales-Garcia R, Guerrero-Alba R Toxins (Basel). 2021; 13(8).

PMID: 34437453 PMC: 8402616. DOI: 10.3390/toxins13080582.

References

Saviola A, Gandara A, Bryson Jr R, Mackessy S . Venom phenotypes of the Rock Rattlesnake (Crotalus lepidus) and the Ridge-nosed Rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi) from México and the United States. Toxicon. 2017; 138:119-129. DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2017.08.016. View

Lomonte B, Gene J, Gutierrez J, Cerdas L . [Comparative study of venoms of newborn and adult rattlesnakes (Crotalus durissus durissus)]. Toxicon. 1983; 21(3):379-84. DOI: 10.1016/0041-0101(83)90094-6. View

Calvete J, Sanz L, Cid P, de la Torre P, Flores-Diaz M, Dos Santos M . Snake venomics of the Central American rattlesnake Crotalus simus and the South American Crotalus durissus complex points to neurotoxicity as an adaptive paedomorphic trend along Crotalus dispersal in South America. J Proteome Res. 2009; 9(1):528-44. DOI: 10.1021/pr9008749. View

Rivas E, Neri-Castro E, Benard-Valle M, Hernanez-Davila A, Zamudio F, Alagon A . General characterization of the venoms from two species of rattlesnakes and an intergrade population (C. lepidus x aquilus) from Aguascalientes and Zacatecas, Mexico. Toxicon. 2017; 138:191-195. DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2017.09.002. View

Aird S, Kaiser I, Lewis R, Kruggel W . A complete amino acid sequence for the basic subunit of crotoxin. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1986; 249(2):296-300. DOI: 10.1016/0003-9861(86)90005-6. View

Gutierrez J, Lomonte B, Leon G, Alape-Giron A, Flores-Diaz M, Sanz L . Snake venomics and antivenomics: Proteomic tools in the design and control of antivenoms for the treatment of snakebite envenoming. J Proteomics. 2009; 72(2):165-82. DOI: 10.1016/j.jprot.2009.01.008. View

Valdes R, Ibarra N, Gonzalez M, Alvarez T, Garcia J, Llambias R . CB.Hep-1 hybridoma growth and antibody production using protein-free medium in a hollow fiber bioreactor. Cytotechnology. 2008; 35(2):145-54. PMC: 3449458. DOI: 10.1023/A:1017921702775. View

Cate R, Bieber A . Purification and characterization of Mojave (Crotalus scutulatus scutulatus) toxin and its subunits. Arch Biochem Biophys. 1978; 189(2):397-408. DOI: 10.1016/0003-9861(78)90227-8. View

Wuster W, Ferguson J, Quijada-Mascarenas J, Pook C, Salomao M, Thorpe R . Tracing an invasion: landbridges, refugia, and the phylogeography of the Neotropical rattlesnake (Serpentes: Viperidae: Crotalus durissus). Mol Ecol. 2005; 14(4):1095-108. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02471.x. View

10.

Strickland J, Mason A, Rokyta D, Parkinson C . Phenotypic Variation in Mojave Rattlesnake (Crotalus scutulatus) Venom Is Driven by Four Toxin Families. Toxins (Basel). 2018; 10(4). PMC: 5923301. DOI: 10.3390/toxins10040135. View

11.

Chen Y, Wang Y, Hseu M, Tsai I . Molecular evolution and structure-function relationships of crotoxin-like and asparagine-6-containing phospholipases A2 in pit viper venoms. Biochem J. 2004; 381(Pt 1):25-34. PMC: 1133758. DOI: 10.1042/BJ20040125. View

12.

Durban J, Perez A, Sanz L, Gomez A, Bonilla F, Rodriguez S . Integrated "omics" profiling indicates that miRNAs are modulators of the ontogenetic venom composition shift in the Central American rattlesnake, Crotalus simus simus. BMC Genomics. 2013; 14:234. PMC: 3660174. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2164-14-234. View

13.

Dowell N, Giorgianni M, Griffin S, Kassner V, Selegue J, Sanchez E . Extremely Divergent Haplotypes in Two Toxin Gene Complexes Encode Alternative Venom Types within Rattlesnake Species. Curr Biol. 2018; 28(7):1016-1026.e4. PMC: 6461038. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.02.031. View

14.

Calvete J . Venomics: integrative venom proteomics and beyond. Biochem J. 2017; 474(5):611-634. DOI: 10.1042/BCJ20160577. View

15.

Kini R, Evans H . A model to explain the pharmacological effects of snake venom phospholipases A2. Toxicon. 1989; 27(6):613-35. DOI: 10.1016/0041-0101(89)90013-5. View

16.

Rangel-Santos A, Dos-Santos E, Lopes-Ferreira M, Lima C, Cardoso D, Mota I . A comparative study of biological activities of crotoxin and CB fraction of venoms from Crotalus durissus terrificus, Crotalus durissus cascavella and Crotalus durissus collilineatus. Toxicon. 2004; 43(7):801-10. DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2004.03.011. View

17.

Gutierrez J, Solano G, Pla D, Herrera M, Segura A, Vargas M . Preclinical Evaluation of the Efficacy of Antivenoms for Snakebite Envenoming: State-of-the-Art and Challenges Ahead. Toxins (Basel). 2017; 9(5). PMC: 5450711. DOI: 10.3390/toxins9050163. View

18.

Weinstein S, Smith L . Preliminary fractionation of tiger rattlesnake (Crotalus tigris) venom. Toxicon. 1990; 28(12):1447-55. DOI: 10.1016/0041-0101(90)90158-4. View

19.

Faure G, Bon C . Crotoxin, a phospholipase A2 neurotoxin from the South American rattlesnake Crotalus durissus terrificus: purification of several isoforms and comparison of their molecular structure and of their biological activities. Biochemistry. 1988; 27(2):730-8. DOI: 10.1021/bi00402a036. View

20.

Faure G, Harvey A, Thomson E, Saliou B, Radvanyi F, Bon C . Comparison of crotoxin isoforms reveals that stability of the complex plays a major role in its pharmacological action. Eur J Biochem. 1993; 214(2):491-6. DOI: 10.1111/j.1432-1033.1993.tb17946.x. View