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An insecticidal toxin from Nephila clavata spider venom

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Abstract

Spiders are the most successful insect predators given that they use their venom containing insecticidal peptides as biochemical weapons for preying. Due to the high specificity and potency of peptidic toxins, discoveries of insecticidal toxins from spider venom have provided an opportunity to obtain natural compounds for agricultural applications without affecting human health. In this study, a novel insecticidal toxin (μ-NPTX-Nc1a) was identified and characterized from the venom of Nephila clavata. Its primary sequence is GCNPDCTGIQCGWPRCPGGQNPVMDKCVSCCPFCPPKSAQG which was determined by automated Edman degradation, cDNA cloning, and MS/MS analysis. BLAST search indicated that Nc1a shows no similarity with known peptides or proteins, indicating that Nc1a belongs to a novel family of insecticidal peptide. Nc1a displayed inhibitory effects on NaV and KV channels in cockroach dorsal unpaired median neurons. The median lethal dose (LD50) of Nc1a on cockroach was 573 ng/g. Herein, a study that identifies a novel insecticidal toxin, which can be a potential candidate and/or template for the development of bioinsecticides, is presented.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Zeng Lin for technical advice and assistance on MS/MS spectra analysis. This work was supported by funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2013CB911304), National Science Foundation of China (331372208 and U1302221), Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA12040209, QYZDJ-SSW-SMC012), Science and technology office of Jiangsu Province (BE2016742) and Yunnan Province (2015HA023) to R.L., National Science Foundation of China (31640071) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA12020334 and Youth Innovation Promotion Association) to S.Y., and National Science Foundation of China (31201717), Jiangsu Province (Q0201600440) to X.W.Y.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, Jiangsu, China

    Lin Jin, Mingqian Fang, Mengrou Chen, Chunling Zhou, Guoxiang Mo, Ren Lai & Xiuwen Yan

  2. Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Yunnan Province, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, 650223, Yunnan, China

    Rose Ombati, Md Abdul Hakim, Ren Lai & Shilong Yang

  3. Sino-African Joint Research Center, CAS, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Kunming, 650223, Yunnan, China

    Rose Ombati & Ren Lai

  4. Clinical Laboratory, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, 650101, Yunnan, China

    Yumin Wang

  5. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100009, China

    Rose Ombati

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  1. Lin Jin
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  2. Mingqian Fang
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  3. Mengrou Chen
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  9. Xiuwen Yan
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  10. Yumin Wang
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  11. Shilong Yang
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Correspondence to Xiuwen Yan, Yumin Wang or Shilong Yang.

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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Handling Editor: J. S. Metcalf.

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Jin, L., Fang, M., Chen, M. et al. An insecticidal toxin from Nephila clavata spider venom. Amino Acids 49, 1237–1245 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-017-2425-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-017-2425-2

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