FEBS Letters
Volume 583, Issue 11 , Pages 1736-1743, 5 June 2009

Venoms, venomics, antivenomics

Edited by Miguel De la Rosa

  • Juan J. Calvete

      Affiliations

    • Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia, C.S.I.C., Jaume Roig 11, 46010 Valencia, Spain
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Fax: +34 96 369 0800.
    • ,
  • Libia Sanz

      Affiliations

    • Instituto de Biomedicina de Valencia, C.S.I.C., Jaume Roig 11, 46010 Valencia, Spain
    • ,
  • Yamileth Angulo

      Affiliations

    • Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
    • ,
  • Bruno Lomonte

      Affiliations

    • Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica
    • ,
  • José María Gutiérrez

      Affiliations

    • Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica

Received 17 February 2009; received in revised form 12 March 2009; accepted 13 March 2009. published online 20 March 2009.

Abstract 

Venoms comprise mixtures of peptides and proteins tailored by Natural Selection to act on vital systems of the prey or victim. Here we review our proteomic protocols for uncoiling the composition, immunological profile, and evolution of snake venoms. Our long-term goal is to gain a deep insight of all viperid venom proteomes. Knowledge of the inter- and intraspecies ontogenetic, individual, and geographic venom variability has applied importance for the design of immunization protocols aimed at producing more effective polyspecific antivenoms. A practical consequence of assessing the cross-reactivity of heterologous antivenoms is the possibility of circumventing the restricted availability of species-specific antivenoms in some regions. Further, the high degree of target specificity makes toxins valuable scaffolds for drug development.

Keywords: Proteomics of snake venom, Snake venomics, Snake venom, Antivenom, Antivenomics

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PII: S0014-5793(09)00214-2

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2009.03.029

FEBS Letters
Volume 583, Issue 11 , Pages 1736-1743, 5 June 2009

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