Scorpion venom consists of a complex mixture of molecules including biologically active compounds. Because of their high potency and selectivity, toxins have medical applicability. In the last decades, scorpion toxins have thus gained considerable interest among scientist in the fields of pharmacology, biophysics and neurobiology. Identification of scorpion venom peptides and toxins can be achieved based on transcriptome approaches. We constructed the first cDNA library and Expressed Sequence Tag (EST) study to explore the transcriptomic composition of the telson from the southern African scorpion Hottentotta conspersus, belonging to the family Buthidae. We obtained 21 new venom-related sequences (8 contigs and 16 singlets) from a total of 98 ESTs analyzed, including putative neurotoxins (chloride, potassium, sodium and calcium channel toxins), bradykinin-potentiating peptides and other venom peptides without established function. These novel toxin-related sequences might serve as basis for further research both of pharmaceutical and phylogenetic nature.
Keywords: Expressed Sequence Tag (EST); Neurotoxin; Scorpion; Transcriptome; Venom gland; cDNA library.
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