Next Article in Journal
A Review on Bradykinin-Related Peptides Isolated from Amphibian Skin Secretion
Next Article in Special Issue
Bioactive Components in Fish Venoms
Previous Article in Journal
A Mutational Analysis of Residues in Cholera Toxin A1 Necessary for Interaction with Its Substrate, the Stimulatory G Protein Gsα
Previous Article in Special Issue
Fossilized Venom: The Unusually Conserved Venom Profiles of Heloderma Species (Beaded Lizards and Gila Monsters)
 
 
Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
Journals
Toxins
Volume 7
Issue 3
10.3390/toxins7030936
toxins-logo
Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Propose a Special Issue
► Article Menu

Article Menu

share Share announcement Help format_quote Cite question_answer Discuss in SciProfiles
first_page
settings
Order Article Reprints
Font Type:
Arial Georgia Verdana
Font Size:
Aa Aa Aa
Line Spacing:
Column Width:
Background:
Article

Firing the Sting: Chemically Induced Discharge of Cnidae Reveals Novel Proteins and Peptides from Box Jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) Venom

by
Mahdokht Jouiaei
1,2,†,
Nicholas R. Casewell
3,†,
Angel A. Yanagihara
4,
Amanda Nouwens
5,
Bronwen W. Cribb
6,
Darryl Whitehead
7,
Timothy N. W. Jackson
1,2,
Syed A. Ali
1,8,
Simon C. Wagstaff
9,
Ivan Koludarov
1,2,
Paul Alewood
2,
Jay Hansen
1 and
Bryan G. Fry
1,2,*
1
Venom Evolution Lab, School of Biological Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
2
Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
3
Alistair Reid Venom Research Unit, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK
4
Pacific Cnidaria Research Lab, Department of Tropical Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA
5
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
6
Centre for Microscopy & Microanalysis and School of Biological Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
7
School of Biomedical Sciences, the University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia
8
HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, Karachi-75270, Pakistan
9
Bioinformatics Unit, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Toxins 2015, 7(3), 936-950; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7030936
Submission received: 19 January 2015 / Revised: 10 February 2015 / Accepted: 12 February 2015 / Published: 18 March 2015
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from the 5th Venoms to Drugs Meeting)
Browse Figures
Versions Notes

Abstract

Cnidarian venom research has lagged behind other toxinological fields due to technical difficulties in recovery of the complex venom from the microscopic nematocysts. Here we report a newly developed rapid, repeatable and cost effective technique of venom preparation, using ethanol to induce nematocyst discharge and to recover venom contents in one step. Our model species was the Australian box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri), which has a notable impact on public health. By utilizing scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy, we examined nematocyst external morphology before and after ethanol treatment and verified nematocyst discharge. Further, to investigate nematocyst content or “venom” recovery, we utilized both top-down and bottom-up transcriptomics–proteomics approaches and compared the proteome profile of this new ethanol recovery based method to a previously reported high activity and recovery protocol, based upon density purified intact cnidae and pressure induced disruption. In addition to recovering previously characterized box jellyfish toxins, including CfTX-A/B and CfTX-1, we recovered putative metalloproteases and novel expression of a small serine protease inhibitor. This study not only reveals a much more complex toxin profile of Australian box jellyfish venom but also suggests that ethanol extraction method could augment future cnidarian venom proteomics research efforts.
Keywords: Chironex fleckeri; transcriptome; proteome; nematocyst; pressure induced disruption; ethanol induced discharge Chironex fleckeri; transcriptome; proteome; nematocyst; pressure induced disruption; ethanol induced discharge

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Jouiaei, M.; Casewell, N.R.; Yanagihara, A.A.; Nouwens, A.; Cribb, B.W.; Whitehead, D.; Jackson, T.N.W.; Ali, S.A.; Wagstaff, S.C.; Koludarov, I.; et al. Firing the Sting: Chemically Induced Discharge of Cnidae Reveals Novel Proteins and Peptides from Box Jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) Venom. Toxins 2015, 7, 936-950. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7030936

AMA Style

Jouiaei M, Casewell NR, Yanagihara AA, Nouwens A, Cribb BW, Whitehead D, Jackson TNW, Ali SA, Wagstaff SC, Koludarov I, et al. Firing the Sting: Chemically Induced Discharge of Cnidae Reveals Novel Proteins and Peptides from Box Jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) Venom. Toxins. 2015; 7(3):936-950. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7030936

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jouiaei, Mahdokht, Nicholas R. Casewell, Angel A. Yanagihara, Amanda Nouwens, Bronwen W. Cribb, Darryl Whitehead, Timothy N. W. Jackson, Syed A. Ali, Simon C. Wagstaff, Ivan Koludarov, and et al. 2015. "Firing the Sting: Chemically Induced Discharge of Cnidae Reveals Novel Proteins and Peptides from Box Jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) Venom" Toxins 7, no. 3: 936-950. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7030936

APA Style

Jouiaei, M., Casewell, N. R., Yanagihara, A. A., Nouwens, A., Cribb, B. W., Whitehead, D., Jackson, T. N. W., Ali, S. A., Wagstaff, S. C., Koludarov, I., Alewood, P., Hansen, J., & Fry, B. G. (2015). Firing the Sting: Chemically Induced Discharge of Cnidae Reveals Novel Proteins and Peptides from Box Jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) Venom. Toxins, 7(3), 936-950. https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins7030936

Article Metrics

Back to TopTop