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Shrew's venom quickly causes circulation disorder, analgesia and hypokinesia

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Abstract

Multiple representatives of eulipotyphlan mammals such as shrews have oral venom systems. Venom facilitates shrews to hunt and/or hoard preys. However, little is known about their venom composition, and especially the mechanism to hoard prey in comatose states for meeting their extremely high metabolic rates. A toxin (BQTX) was identified from venomous submaxillary glands of the shrew Blarinella quadraticauda. BQTX is specifically distributed and highly concentrated (~ 1% total protein) in the organs. BQTX shares structural and functional similarities to toxins from snakes, wasps and snails, suggesting an evolutional relevancy of venoms from mammalians and non-mammalians. By potentiating thrombin and factor-XIIa and inhibiting plasmin, BQTX induces acute hypertension, blood coagulation and hypokinesia. It also shows strong analgesic function by inhibiting elastase. Notably, the toxin keeps high plasma stability with a 16-h half-life in-vivo, which likely extends intoxication to paralyze or immobilize prey hoarded fresh for later consumption and maximize foraging profit.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge English language support from Dr. Peter Muiruri Kamau and all the participants of this study.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (31930015, 32100907, 81770464, and 32070443), Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB31000000 and KFJ-STS-SCYD-304), Chongqing Municipal Education Commission (HZ2021020), and Yunnan Province (2019FA006, 2019FB127, 2019ZF003, and 202003AD150008), as well as the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2018YFA0801403).

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  1. Zhiyi Liao, Xiaopeng Tang, Wenlin Chen and Xuelong Jiang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Animal Models and Human Disease Mechanisms of Chinese Academy of Sciences/Key Laboratory of Bioactive Peptides of Yunnan Province, KIZ-CUHK Joint Laboratory of Bioresources and Molecular Research in Common Diseases, National Resource Center for Non-Human Primates, Kunming Primate Research Center, National Research Facility for Phenotypic & Genetic Analysis of Model Animals (Primate Facility), Sino-African Joint Research Center, and Engineering Laboratory of Peptides, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, Yunnan, China

    Zhiyi Liao, Xiaopeng Tang, Zilei Duan, Xiaoqin He, Peter Muiruri Kamau, Longbao Lv, Zhiye Zhang, Mingqiang Rong, Qiumin Lv & Ren Lai

  2. No.1 Department of Breast Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University & Yunnan Tumor Hospital, kunming, 650000, Yunnan, China

    Wenlin Chen

  3. State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, Yunnan, China

    Xuelong Jiang, Zhongzheng Chen, Kai He & Quan Li

  4. Kunming College of Life Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650204, Yunnan, China

    Zhiyi Liao & Peter Muiruri Kamau

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  1. Zhiyi Liao
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Contributions

ZL, XT, WC, XJ, ZD, LL, and XH performed research; XJ, ZC, KH, and QL Collected Blarinella quadraticauda specimens and analyzed toxicological effects; W.C. provided B. quadraticauda bite case report; RL, XT, ZL, MR, and PK wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Ren Lai.

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All animal-based experiments conformed to the recommendations in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals of the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. All experiments complied with national legislation and were approved by the Committee on the Ethics of Animal Experiments of the Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SYXK-2014-0007 and SMKX-2016013).

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Liao, Z., Tang, X., Chen, W. et al. Shrew's venom quickly causes circulation disorder, analgesia and hypokinesia. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 79, 35 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-021-04116-x

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