Main description:

This volume
provides the reader with recent advances in the fields of molecular toxinology,
the biotechnological applications of venom toxins, and antivenom production.
The content of the twenty chapters of Venom Genomics and Proteomics
illustrates not only the enormous progress made since the implementation of
omics technologies in the field of toxinology, but one also realizes the road
still ahead to reach a holistic view of venomous systems. Advancement in
high-throughput technologies in the field of venomics has resulted in the
ability to generate comprehensive venom profiles for many species. However,
research on snake genomes is still in its infancy, although such studies are
eagerly awaited to gain insights into the evolutionary history of snake venom
proteins, including the mechanisms that originated venom and the regulation of
toxin expression. Fortunately, this objective is also at the reach of current
omic technologies. Therefore it would not be unrealistic to predict a bright
near future to the field of molecular toxinology.

Venom
Genomics and Proteomics covers research into the venom of scaled reptiles (lizards and
snakes), scorpions, spiders, ants and platypuses. Special consideration is
given to a number of observations made in the area of snake venom and in the
application of advanced genomics and proteomics techniques on a variety of
venom samples. The final chapters give some insight into the potential clinical
uses of venom derivatives and into the importance and challenges faced in the
production and quality control of antivenoms.

Contents:

Deadly Innovations: Unraveling the Molecular Evolution of Animal
Venoms.- Squamate Reptile Genomics and Evolution.- Venoms of Colubrids.- Phylogenetics
of Scorpions of Medical Importance.- Scorpion Venom Gland Transcriptomics and
Proteomics: An Overview.- Brown Spider Venom: The Identification and
Biotechnological Potential of Venom Toxins.- Venom Toxins of Fire Ants.- The
Platypus: A Venomous Mammal.- Structure-Function Relationship of Modular
Domains of P-III Class.- Snake Venom Metalloproteinases.- Biological
Activities and Assays of the Snake Venom Metalloproteinases (SVMPs).- Three-Dimensional
Structures and Mechanisms of Snake Venom Serine Proteinases,
Metalloproteinases, and Phospholipase A2s.- Structure-Function Relationship in
Heterodimeric Neurotoxin PLA2s from Viperidae Snakes Inhabiting Europe, South
America, and Asia.- Snake Venom Phospholipase A2: Evolution and Diversity. - Automated
Mass Fingerprinting of Venoms in Nanogram Range: Review of Technology.- Snake
Venom Peptidomics.- Snake Venom Proteopeptidomics: What Lies Behind the
Curtain.- Shotgun Approaches for Venom Analysis.- Purinergic Mechanisms of
Prey Acquisition by Venomous Organisms.- Applications of Snake Toxins in
Biomedicine.- Industrial Production and Quality Control of Snake Antivenoms.