TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2013//
TI  - Unravelling the complex venom landscapes of lethal Australian funnel-web spiders (Hexathelidae: Atracinae) using LC-MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry
JO  - Journal of Proteomics
A1  - Palagi, Alexandre
A1  - Koh, Jennifer M. S.
A1  - Leblanc, Mathieu
A1  - Wilson, Denise
A1  - Dutertre, Sébastien
A1  - King, Glenn F.
A1  - Nicholson, Graham M.
A1  - Escoubas, Pierre
SP  - 292
EP  - 310
VL  - 80
IS  - 
N2  - Spider venoms represent vast sources of bioactive molecules whose diversity remains largely unknown. Indeed, only a small subset of species have been studied out of the ~43,000 extant spider species. The present study investigated inter- and intra-species venom complexity in 18 samples collected from a variety of lethal Australian funnel-web spiders (Mygalomorphae: Hexathelidae: Atracinae) using C4 reversed-phase separation coupled to offline MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (LC-MALDI-TOF MS). An in-depth investigation focusing on four atracine venoms (male Illawarra wisharti, male and female Hadronyche cerberea, and female H. infensa Toowoomba) revealed, on average, ~800 peptides in female venoms while male venoms contained ~400 peptides, distributed across most HPLC fractions. This is significantly higher than previous estimates of peptide expression in mygalomorph venoms. These venoms also showed distinct intersexual as well as intra- and inter-species variation in peptide masses. Construction of both 3D and 2D contour plots revealed that peptide mass distributions in all 18 venoms were centered around the 3200-5400 m/z range and to a lesser extent the 6600-8200 m/z range, consistent with previously described hexatoxins. These findings highlight the extensive diversity of peptide toxins in Australian funnel-web spider venoms that that can be exploited as novel therapeutic and biopesticide lead molecules.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1874-3919
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jprot.2013.01.002
ID  - ref1
ER  -