POLYACRYLAMIDE GEL ELECTROPHORESIS AS A TOOL FOR THE TAXONOMIC IDENTIFICATION OF SNAKES FROM THE ELAPIDAE AND VIPERIDAE FAMILIES

A. M. SOARES(1), L. H. ANZALONI PEDROSA(1), M. R. M. FONTES(2), R. J. DA SILVA(3), J. R. GIGLIO(1)

(1)Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, University of São Paulo-USP, Ribeirão Preto, State São Paulo, Brazil; (2)Department of Physics and Biophysics, São Paulo State University-UNESP, Botucatu, State São Paulo, Brazil; (3)Center for the Study of Venoms and Venomous Animals - CEVAP, Botucatu, State São Paulo, Brazil.

ABSTRACT. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) for basic proteins may be a useful tool for the characterization of whole snake venoms and for the taxonomic classification of snakes of the Elapidae and Viperidae families. However, due to the close proximity of molecular weights among toxins bearing different net charges, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) - PAGE was not able to provide an efficient differentiation. This article reports the electrophoretic analysis of several venoms from the genera Micrurus, Bothrops, Bothriopsis, Crotalus and Lachesis and shows a typical and distinctive electrophoretic profile for each species, with intraspecific and geographic variations. Even in cases in which extreme morphological similarities were present, such as between B. jararacussu and B. pirajai ("Bahia jararacuçu"), differentiation could be evidenced by PAGE. This simple and sensitive procedure may be applied to similar cases involving basic toxins.

KEY WORDS: snake venoms, basic toxins, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, Elapidae, Viperidae.

CORRESPONDENCE TO:

J. R. GIGLIO - Departamento de Bioquímica, Faculdade de Medicina-USP, CEP 14.049-900, Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brasil.