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10.3390/toxins13080548
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Article

Venom of the Annulated Sea Snake Hydrophis cyanocinctus: A Biochemically Simple but Genetically Complex Weapon

by
Hong-Yan Zhao
1,
Yan Sun
1,
Yu Du
2,3,4,
Jia-Qi Li
4,
Jin-Geng Lv
2,3,
Yan-Fu Qu
4,
Long-Hui Lin
1,
Chi-Xian Lin
2,3,*,
Xiang Ji
3,4,5,* and
Jian-Fang Gao
1,*
1
Hangzhou Key Laboratory for Animal Adaptation and Evolution, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
2
Hainan Key Laboratory of Herpetological Research, College of Fisheries and Life Science, Hainan Tropical Ocean University, Sanya 572022, China
3
MOE Key Laboratory of Utilization and Conservation for Tropical Marine Bioresources, Hainan Tropical Ocean University, Sanya 572022, China
4
Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210023, China
5
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325035, China
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Toxins 2021, 13(8), 548; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13080548
Submission received: 4 July 2021 / Revised: 27 July 2021 / Accepted: 30 July 2021 / Published: 6 August 2021
(This article belongs to the Section Animal Venoms)
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Abstract

Given that the venom system in sea snakes has a role in enhancing their secondary adaption to the marine environment, it follows that elucidating the diversity and function of venom toxins will help to understand the adaptive radiation of sea snakes. We performed proteomic and de novo NGS analyses to explore the diversity of venom toxins in the annulated sea snake (Hydrophis cyanocinctus) and estimated the adaptive molecular evolution of the toxin-coding unigenes and the toxicity of the major components. We found three-finger toxins (3-FTxs), phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and cysteine-rich secretory protein (CRISP) in the venom proteome and 59 toxin-coding unigenes belonging to 24 protein families in the venom-gland transcriptome; 3-FTx and PLA2 were the most abundant families. Nearly half of the toxin-coding unigenes had undergone positive selection. The short- (i.p. 0.09 μg/g) and long-chain neurotoxin (i.p. 0.14 μg/g) presented fairly high toxicity, whereas both basic and acidic PLA2s expressed low toxicity. The toxicity of H. cyanocinctus venom was largely determined by the 3-FTxs. Our data show the venom is used by H. cyanocinctus as a biochemically simple but genetically complex weapon and venom evolution in H. cyanocinctus is presumably driven by natural selection to deal with fast-moving prey and enemies in the marine environment.
Keywords: venom toxin; Hydrophis cyanocinctus; diversity; omics; positive selection venom toxin; Hydrophis cyanocinctus; diversity; omics; positive selection

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Zhao, H.-Y.; Sun, Y.; Du, Y.; Li, J.-Q.; Lv, J.-G.; Qu, Y.-F.; Lin, L.-H.; Lin, C.-X.; Ji, X.; Gao, J.-F. Venom of the Annulated Sea Snake Hydrophis cyanocinctus: A Biochemically Simple but Genetically Complex Weapon. Toxins 2021, 13, 548. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13080548

AMA Style

Zhao H-Y, Sun Y, Du Y, Li J-Q, Lv J-G, Qu Y-F, Lin L-H, Lin C-X, Ji X, Gao J-F. Venom of the Annulated Sea Snake Hydrophis cyanocinctus: A Biochemically Simple but Genetically Complex Weapon. Toxins. 2021; 13(8):548. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13080548

Chicago/Turabian Style

Zhao, Hong-Yan, Yan Sun, Yu Du, Jia-Qi Li, Jin-Geng Lv, Yan-Fu Qu, Long-Hui Lin, Chi-Xian Lin, Xiang Ji, and Jian-Fang Gao. 2021. "Venom of the Annulated Sea Snake Hydrophis cyanocinctus: A Biochemically Simple but Genetically Complex Weapon" Toxins 13, no. 8: 548. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13080548

APA Style

Zhao, H.-Y., Sun, Y., Du, Y., Li, J.-Q., Lv, J.-G., Qu, Y.-F., Lin, L.-H., Lin, C.-X., Ji, X., & Gao, J.-F. (2021). Venom of the Annulated Sea Snake Hydrophis cyanocinctus: A Biochemically Simple but Genetically Complex Weapon. Toxins, 13(8), 548. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins13080548

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