Abstract:
Aculeate hymenopterans use their venom for a variety of different purposes. The venom of solitary aculeates paralyze and preserve prey without killing it, whereas social aculeates utilize their venom in defence of their colony. These distinct applications of venom suggest that its components and their functions are also likely to differ. This study investigates a range of solitary and social species across Aculeata. We combined electrophoretic, mass spectrometric, and transcriptomic techniques to characterize the compositions of venoms from an incredibly diverse taxon. In addition, in vitro assays shed light on their biological activities. Although there were many common components identified in the venoms of species with different social behavior, there were also significant variations in the presence and activity of enzymes such as phospholipase A2s and serine proteases and the cytotoxicity of the venoms. Social aculeate venom showed higher presence of peptides that cause damage and pain in victims. The venom-gland transcriptome from the European honeybee (Apis mellifera) contained highly conserved toxins which match those identified by previous investigations. In contrast, venoms from less-studied taxa returned limited results from our proteomic databases, suggesting that they contain unique toxins.
摘要:
透明膜翅目动物将其毒液用于各种不同的目的。孤独症的毒液麻痹并保存猎物而不杀死它,而社会主义者则利用他们的毒液来保卫他们的殖民地。毒液的这些不同应用表明其成分及其功能也可能有所不同。这项研究调查了Aculeata中的一系列孤独和社会物种。我们结合了电泳,质谱,和转录组学技术来表征来自令人难以置信的多样化分类单元的毒液组成。此外,体外试验揭示了它们的生物活性。尽管在具有不同社会行为的物种的毒液中发现了许多共同的成分,磷脂酶A2s和丝氨酸蛋白酶等酶的存在和活性以及毒液的细胞毒性也存在显着差异。社会敏化毒液显示出更高的肽含量,这些肽会引起受害者的损伤和疼痛。来自欧洲蜜蜂(Apismellifera)的毒腺转录组含有高度保守的毒素,与先前研究确定的毒素相匹配。相比之下,来自研究较少的分类群的毒液从我们的蛋白质组数据库中返回了有限的结果,表明它们含有独特的毒素。