Identification and characterization of microRNAs from Bothrops jararaca's venom glands

• Grant number: 09/07718-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: October 01, 2009
• End date: March 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Inácio de Loiola Meirelles Junqueira de Azevedo
• Grantee: Aurélio Pedroso Júnior
• Host Institution: Instituto Butantan. Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The snakes venom gland probably evolves from salivary glands of non-venom ancestral species. This epithelium is very specialized in toxin production and is subject to various kind of regulations, with the protein synthesis being unchained by different factors like reduction of the volume of lumen secretion and other mechanisms dependent on adrenoreceptors. MicroRNAs on the other hand, are important factors of gene expression modulation, recently described in several organisms. In this project we intend to isolate, identify and characterize microRNAs involved in the regulation of the production and secretion of proteins present in the venom glands of snakes. Our snake model is Bothrops jararaca, a Brazilian specie belonging to Viperidae family. In this analysis, microRNAs will be isolated and enriched from total RNA of Bothrops jararaca's venom gland. After the ligation of adequate clone linkers, the microRNAs will be cloned and sequenced, and the bioinformatic analysis will reveal the identity of the microRNAs and the possible targets (mRNA) of regulation based in ESTs databanks established in our lab. The microRNAs represent a new boundary in the knowledge of gene regulation in animals and plants, but none study involved the snake microRNA transcriptome set yet. Once that Brazil is a important repository of this fauna, it will be very important to ensure the primacy in the study of microRNAs from these reptiles. (AU)