Integration of transcriptomic and proteomic approaches for venom profiling

Snake venoms contain many protein and peptide isoforms with high levels of sequence variation, even within a single species. When characterizing venoms, peptide mass fingerprinting using databases built predominately from protein sequences originating from model organisms can be disadvantageous, especially when the intention is to document protein diversity. Therefore, the use of species-specific venom gland transcriptomes corrects for the absence of these unique peptide sequences in databases. The integration of transcriptomics and proteomics improves the accuracy of either approach alone for venom profiling. In this review, we highlight several examples, from both published and unpublished work in our lab, demonstrating how a combined venom gland transcriptome and proteome methodology allows for comprehensive characterization of venoms, including those from understudied rear-fanged snake species, and we provide recommendations for using these approaches.

Article highlights:

• Use of a species-specific venom gland transcriptome allows for more accurate proteomic quantification of venom components

• Different databases bias proteomic results, and smaller databases increase detection sensitivity

• Species-specific databases better detect unique peptide sequences