Proteome and phosphoproteome of Africanized and European honeybee venoms

Abstract

Honey bee venom toxins trigger immunological, physiological, and neurological responses within victims. The high occurrence of bee attacks involving potentially fatal toxic and allergic reactions in humans and the prospect of developing novel pharmaceuticals make honey bee venom an attractive target for proteomic studies. Using label-free quantification, we compared the proteome and phosphoproteome of the venom of Africanized honeybees with that of two European subspecies, namely Apis mellifera ligustica and A. m. carnica. From the total of 51 proteins, 42 were common to all three subspecies. Remarkably, the toxins melittin and icarapin were phosphorylated. In all venoms, icarapin was phosphorylated at the (205) Ser residue, which is located in close proximity to its known antigenic site. Melittin, the major toxin of honeybee venoms, was phosphorylated in all venoms at the (10) Thr and (18) Ser residues. (18) Ser phosphorylated melittin-the major of its two phosphorylated forms-was less toxic compared to the native peptide.

Keywords: Animal proteomics; Apis mellifera; Honeybee venom; LC-MS/MS; Melittin; Phosphorylation.