Shedding Lights on Crude Venom from Solitary Foraging Predatory Ant Ectatomma opaciventre: Initial Toxinological Investigation

Lucas Ian Veloso Correia,Fernanda Gobbi Amorim,Sarah Natalie Cirilo Gimenes,Veridiana De Melo Rodrigues,Renata Santos Rodrigues,Lorena Polloni,Mariana Alves Pereira Zoia,Kelly A Geraldo Yoneyama,Jéssica Peixoto Rodrigues,Fernanda Van Petten De Vasconcelos Azevedo,Jean Carlos Santos,Luiz Ricardo Goulart,Eliane Candiani Arantes,Mônica Soares Costa

doi:10.3390/toxins14010037

Abstract

Some species of primitive predatory ants, despite living in a colony, exercise their hunting collection strategy individually; their venom is painful, paralyzing, digestive, and lethal for their prey, yet the toxins responsible for these effects are poorly known. Ectatomma opaciventre is a previously unrecorded solitary hunting ant from the Brazilian Cerrado. To overcome this hindrance, the present study performed the in vitro enzymatic, biochemical, and biological activities of E. opaciventre to better understand the properties of this venom. Its venom showed several proteins with masses ranging from 1–116 kDa, highlighting the complexity of this venom. Compounds with high enzymatic activity were described, elucidating different enzyme classes present in the venom, with the presence of the first L-amino acid oxidase in Hymenoptera venoms being reported. Its crude venom contributes to a state of blood incoagulability, acting on primary hemostasis, inhibiting collagen-induced platelet aggregation, and operating on the fibrinolysis of loose red clots. Furthermore, the E. opaciventre venom preferentially induced cytotoxic effects on lung cancer cell lines and three different species of Leishmania. These data shed a comprehensive portrait of enzymatic components, biochemical and biological effects in vitro, opening perspectives for bio-pharmacological application of E. opaciventre venom molecules.

Highlights

Insects are invertebrates with a wide variety of defense mechanisms, which is why they have managed to occupy the most diverse terrestrial environments [1]
Detection of Enzyme Classes Contained in the E. opaciventre Crude Venom and Quantitative
Detection of Enzyme Classes Contained in the E. opaciventre Crude Venom and Quantitative Evaluation of Activity

Summary

Introduction

Insects are invertebrates with a wide variety of defense mechanisms, which is why they have managed to occupy the most diverse terrestrial environments [1]. 16 subfamilies retained the ability to use their venom to search for food by subduing their prey [4]. This foraging and predation habit is exercised collectively or individually, with the latter group standing out for having a sufficiently powerful venom to incapacitate their prey [5]. Ant venoms are richly diverse in toxins, bioactive compounds, alkaloids, proteins, and peptides [4,6,7,8], knowledge about the toxinology of these animals remains limited or even largely unknown due extensively to the number of species. The lack of information about the effects derived from crude venom stands out in this scenario, as such understanding is important from a medical point of view in cases of allergies, envenoming, and anaphylaxis, as well as from the perspective of these effects in the process of drug discovery [9,10,11]; this is exemplified by the most famous success of a toxin that bioinspired the design of Captopril, from the observation of the hypotensive effect of the bite by the Brazilian snake Bothrops jararaca [11]

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Conclusion