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. 2017 Mar 25;9(4):116.
doi: 10.3390/toxins9040116.

Venom Profiling of a Population of the Theraphosid Spider Phlogius crassipes Reveals Continuous Ontogenetic Changes from Juveniles through Adulthood

Renan C Santana  1   2 , David Perez  3 , James Dobson  4 , Nadya Panagides  5 , Robert J Raven  6 , Amanda Nouwens  7 , Alun Jones  8 , Glenn F King  9 , Bryan G Fry  10
Affiliations

Venom Profiling of a Population of the Theraphosid Spider Phlogius crassipes Reveals Continuous Ontogenetic Changes from Juveniles through Adulthood

Renan C Santana et al. Toxins (Basel). .

Abstract

Theraphosid spiders (tarantulas) are venomous arthropods found in most tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Tarantula venoms are a complex cocktail of toxins with potential use as pharmacological tools, drugs and bioinsecticides. Although numerous toxins have been isolated from tarantula venoms, little research has been carried out on the venom of Australian tarantulas. We therefore investigated the venom profile of the Australian theraphosid spider Phlogius crassipes and examined whether there are ontogenetic changes in venom composition. Spiders were divided into four ontogenic groups according to cephalothorax length, then the venom composition of each group was examined using gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. We found that the venom of P. crassipes changes continuously during development and throughout adulthood. Our data highlight the need to investigate the venom of organisms over the course of their lives to uncover and understand the changing functions of venom and the full range of toxins expressed. This in turn should lead to a deeper understanding of the organism's ecology and enhance the potential for biodiscovery.

Keywords: LC/MS-MS; age; mass spectrometry; proteomic; tarantula; toxins.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declare no conflict of interest. The founding sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Combined liquid chromatography (LC) chromatograms of specimens from the (a) OXS – Olkola extra small group, (b) OS – Olkola small group, (c) OM – Olkola medium group, and (d) OL – Olkola large group. Each colour represent a different specimen. Vertical axis is Intensity and horizontal axis is Time (minutes).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Combined liquid chromatography (LC) chromatograms of specimens from the (a) OXS – Olkola extra small group, (b) OS – Olkola small group, (c) OM – Olkola medium group, and (d) OL – Olkola large group. Each colour represent a different specimen. Vertical axis is Intensity and horizontal axis is Time (minutes).
Figure 1
Figure 1
Combined liquid chromatography (LC) chromatograms of specimens from the (a) OXS – Olkola extra small group, (b) OS – Olkola small group, (c) OM – Olkola medium group, and (d) OL – Olkola large group. Each colour represent a different specimen. Vertical axis is Intensity and horizontal axis is Time (minutes).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Principal component analysis and discriminant analysis (PCA-DA) analysis of Phlogius crassipes population from Olkola Aboriginal land. Tarantulas are grouped according to cephalothorax size. Each dot represents a specimen.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Left. 1D SDS PAGE gel of representatives from a population of Phlogius crassipes. Left lane is molecular marker (protein ladder) followed by OL, OM, OS and OXS specimens, respectively. Right. Clustering analyses with Rho similarity and 10,000 bootstrap values from one-dimensional gel electrophoresis of P. crassipes individuals of four different sizes.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Simple Correspondence Analysis of representatives of group size from a population of P. crassipes. Each number corresponds to a single venom compound identified by Protein Pilot. Axes correspond to the two dimensions created by the analysis.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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