Citation

Walker AA, Robinson SD, Hamilton BF, Undheim EAB, King GF. Proteomics 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/pmic.201900324

PMID

32820606

Abstract

Animal venoms are renowned for their toxicity, biochemical complexity, and as a source of compounds with potential applications in medicine, agriculture and industry. Polypeptides underlie much of the pharmacology of animal venoms, and elucidating these arsenals of polypeptide toxins-known as the venom proteome or venome-is an important step in venom research. Proteomics is used for the identification of venom toxins, determination of their primary structure including post-translational modifications, as well as investigations into the physiology underlying their production and delivery. Advances in proteomics and adjacent technologies has led to a recent upsurge in publications reporting venom proteomes. Improved mass spectrometers, better proteomic workflows, and the integration of next-generation sequencing of venom-gland∖ transcriptomes and venomous animal genomes allows quicker and more accurate profiling of venom proteomes with greatly reduced starting material. Technologies such as imaging mass spectrometry are revealing additional insights into the mechanism, location, and kinetics of venom toxin production. However, these numerous new developments may be overwhelming for researchers designing venom proteome studies. Here, we review the field of venom proteomics and offer some practical solutions for simplifying mass spectrometry workflows to study animal venoms. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

mass spectrometry imaging; toxin; venom; venom proteome; venomics