Acanthoscurria rondoniae spider venom peptidomics

• Grant number: 17/23771-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2018
• End date: November 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules
• Principal Investigator: Alexandre Keiji Tashima
• Grantee: Guilherme Araújo Câmara
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The order of spiders (Araneae) is one of the most diversified in number of species and also one of the most successful group of venomous animals on Earth. One factor that contribute to the success of spiders is the production of a highly toxic venom from their glands, used to subdue prey and as a protection against predators. The composition of spider venoms is complex, but it is known that a large part of its main components are peptides in the mass range of 3-9 kDa, belonging mainly to the inhibitor cystine knot or disulfide-directed ²-hairpin structural classes. We have recently developed a methodological strategy to completely sequence and determine the number of disulfide bonds of mature spider peptides. This strategy is based on mass spectrometry analysis of intact peptides and digested by multiple enzymes, transcriptomic analysis and bioinformatics assembling. We propose in this project a peptidomic analysis of the Acanthoscurria rondoniae spider venom, aiming to completely sequence new mature peptides, determine the number of S-S bonds, annotate the previously assembled transcriptomic database of venom glands and prospect antimicrobial activities of the new peptidic fractions. (AU)