Integration of transcriptomic and proteomic approaches for snake venom profiling.

Cassandra M Modahl, Anthony J Saviola, Stephen P Mackessy

Expert review of proteomics 2021 Oct

filter terms:

Snake venoms contain many protein and peptide isoforms with high levels of sequence variation, even within a single species. In this review, we highlight several examples, from both published and unpublished work in our lab, demonstrating how a combined venom gland transcriptome and proteome methodology allows for comprehensive characterization of venoms, including those from understudied rear-fanged snake species, and we provide recommendations for using these approaches. When characterizing venoms, peptide mass fingerprinting using databases built predominately from protein sequences originating from model organisms can be disadvantageous, especially when the intention is to document protein diversity. Therefore, the use of species-specific venom gland transcriptomes corrects for the absence of these unique peptide sequences in databases. The integration of transcriptomics and proteomics improves the accuracy of either approach alone for venom profiling.

Citation

Cassandra M Modahl, Anthony J Saviola, Stephen P Mackessy. Integration of transcriptomic and proteomic approaches for snake venom profiling. Expert review of proteomics. 2021 Oct;18(10):827-834