Structures of Azemiops feae venom phospholipases and cys-rich-secretory protein and implications for taxonomy and toxinology

• Four acidic and one basic PLA2s were cloned and three acidic PLA2s were isolated.
• Af-E6 is similar to acidic marker-PLA2 of pitviper venom, the N49-PLA2s are unique.
• The CRISP of Azemiops is more similar to those of crotaline than those of viperine.
• Azemiops and Tropidolaemus appear to be related based on their venomics.
• Abundant neurotoxic and hypotensive peptides are derived from their CNP-precursors.

abstractThe Azemiops snakes are pit-less and phylogenetically located at the Crotalinae and Viperinae divergence. cDNAs encoding five Azemiops venom phospholipase (sPLA2) molecules were cloned and sequenced; their signal-peptides were similar to those of crotalid sPLA2s. Based on their calculated pI-values and residue-49 substitutions, they were designated as Af-E6, Af-N49a, Af-N49a1, Af-N49a2, and Af-N49b, respectively. The first three isoforms, comprising 3–4% of the venom proteins, were purified by reversed-phase HPLC. Af-E6 is catalytically active and has >80% sequence-similarity to other Glu6-PLA2 (a pitviper venom-marker). Results of phylogenetic analyses reveal that acidic Af-N49a and Af-N49a1 are rather unique and loosely linked with crotalid PLA2s, while Af-N49b is related to the viperid PLA2s with Ser1 substitution. Notably, the Asn49-substitutions in these molecules imply catalytic-independent mechanisms. The 3D-models of Af-E6 and Af-N49a have surface electropotential maps similar to each other and to those of antiplatelet PLA2s, while the Af-N49b model is similar to basic and myotoxic sPLA2 molecules. From Azemiops feae and four other Viperidae, we cloned five novel Cys-rich secretory proteins (CRISPs). Azemiops CRISP and natriuretic-peptide precursors share more sequence similarities with those of crotalid venoms than with viperid venoms, further supporting the theory that Azemiops are sister taxons to pit vipers, especially Tropedolaemus.

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