Functional and Proteomic Insights into Aculeata Venoms
Daniel Dashevsky,
Kate Baumann,
Eivind A. B. Undheim,
Amanda Nouwens,
Maria P. Ikonomopoulou,
Justin O. Schmidt,
Lilin Ge,
Hang Fai Kwok,
Juanita Rodriguez,
Bryan G. Fry
Affiliations
Daniel Dashevsky
Australian National Insect Collection, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Kate Baumann
Venom Evolution Lab, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
Eivind A. B. Undheim
Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Bioscience, University of Oslo, N-0316 Oslo, Norway
Amanda Nouwens
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
Maria P. Ikonomopoulou
Translational Venomics Group, Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Food, 4075 Madrid, Spain
Justin O. Schmidt
Southwestern Biological Institute, 1961 W. Brichta Dr., Tucson, AZ 85745, USA
Lilin Ge
State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base for TCM Quality and Efficacy, School of Pharmacy, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, 138 Xianlin Avenue, Qixia District, Nanjing 210046, China
Hang Fai Kwok
Institute of Translational Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau
Juanita Rodriguez
Australian National Insect Collection, Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia
Bryan G. Fry
Venom Evolution Lab, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
Aculeate hymenopterans use their venom for a variety of different purposes. The venom of solitary aculeates paralyze and preserve prey without killing it, whereas social aculeates utilize their venom in defence of their colony. These distinct applications of venom suggest that its components and their functions are also likely to differ. This study investigates a range of solitary and social species across Aculeata. We combined electrophoretic, mass spectrometric, and transcriptomic techniques to characterize the compositions of venoms from an incredibly diverse taxon. In addition, in vitro assays shed light on their biological activities. Although there were many common components identified in the venoms of species with different social behavior, there were also significant variations in the presence and activity of enzymes such as phospholipase A2s and serine proteases and the cytotoxicity of the venoms. Social aculeate venom showed higher presence of peptides that cause damage and pain in victims. The venom-gland transcriptome from the European honeybee (Apis mellifera) contained highly conserved toxins which match those identified by previous investigations. In contrast, venoms from less-studied taxa returned limited results from our proteomic databases, suggesting that they contain unique toxins.
