*Article* **Recombinant Production and Characterization of a New Toxin from** *Cryptops iheringi* **Centipede Venom Revealed by Proteome and Transcriptome Analysis**

**Lhiri Hanna De Lucca Caetano 1, Milton Yutaka Nishiyama-Jr 2, Bianca de Carvalho Lins Fernandes Távora 1, Ursula Castro de Oliveira 2, Inácio de Loiola Meirelles Junqueira-de-Azevedo 2, Eliana L. Faquim-Mauro <sup>1</sup> and Geraldo Santana Magalhães 1,\***


**Citation:** De Lucca Caetano, L.H.; Nishiyama-Jr, M.Y.; de Carvalho Lins Fernandes Távora, B.; de Oliveira, U.C.; de Loiola Meirelles Junqueirade-Azevedo, I.; Faquim-Mauro, E.L.; Magalhães, G.S. Recombinant Production and Characterization of a New Toxin from *Cryptops iheringi* Centipede Venom Revealed by Proteome and Transcriptome Analysis. *Toxins* **2021**, *13*, 858. https://doi.org/10.3390/ toxins13120858

Received: 8 October 2021 Accepted: 18 November 2021 Published: 2 December 2021

**Publisher's Note:** MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

**Copyright:** © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

**Abstract:** Among the Chilopoda class of centipede, the *Cryptops* genus is one of the most associated with envenomation in humans in the metropolitan region of the state of São Paulo. To date, there is no study in the literature about the toxins present in its venom. Thus, in this work, a transcriptomic characterization of the *Cryptops iheringi* venom gland, as well as a proteomic analysis of its venom, were performed to obtain a toxin profile of this species. These methods indicated that 57.9% of the sequences showed to be putative toxins unknown in public databases; among them, we pointed out a novel putative toxin named Cryptoxin-1. The recombinant form of this new toxin was able to promote edema in mice footpads with massive neutrophils infiltration, linking this toxin to envenomation symptoms observed in accidents with humans. Our findings may elucidate the role of this toxin in the venom, as well as the possibility to explore other proteins found in this work.

**Keywords:** *Cryptops iheringi*; centipede; venom; toxin; transcriptome; proteome; recombinant protein; venomics; chilopoda

**Key Contribution:** The first transcriptome profile of the venom gland of *Cryptops iheringi* species and the characterization of a new recombinant toxin named Cryptoxin-1, which may play an important role in envenomation.
