Snake venomics of monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia) and investigation of human IgG response against venom toxins

Andreas Hougaard Laustsen, Brian Lohse, Arne Redsted Rasmussen

    41 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The venom proteome of the monocled cobra, Naja kaouthia, from Thailand, was characterized by RP-HPLC, SDS-PAGE, and MALDI-TOF-TOF analyses, yielding 38 different proteins that were either identified or assigned to families. Estimation of relative protein abundances revealed that venom is dominated by three-finger toxins (77.5%; including 24.3% cytotoxins and 53.2% neurotoxins) and phospholipases A2 (13.5%). It also contains lower proportions of components belonging to nerve growth factor, ohanin/vespryn, cysteine-rich secretory protein, C-type lectin/lectin-like, nucleotidase, phosphodiesterase, metalloproteinase, l-amino acid oxidase, cobra venom factor, and cytidyltransferase protein families. Small amounts of three nucleosides were also evidenced: adenosine, guanosine, and inosine. The most relevant lethal components, categorized by means of a 'toxicity score', were α-neurotoxins, followed by cytotoxins/cardiotoxins. IgGs isolated from a person who had repeatedly self-immunized with a variety of snake venoms were immunoprofiled by ELISA against all venom fractions. Stronger responses against larger toxins, but lower against the most critical α-neurotoxins were obtained. As expected, no neutralization potential against N. kaouthia venom was therefore detected. Combined, our results display a high level of venom complexity, unveil the most relevant toxins to be neutralized, and provide prospects of discovering human IgGs with toxin neutralizing abilities through use of phage display screening.

    Original languageEnglish
    JournalToxicon
    Volume99
    Pages (from-to)23-35
    Number of pages13
    ISSN0041-0101
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2015

    Keywords

    • Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Snake venomics of monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia) and investigation of human IgG response against venom toxins'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this