INDIVIDUAL, INTRA-SPECIFIC AND GENDER VARIATIONS IN Tityus bahiensis VENOM: HOW DIFFERENT ARE THEY?

Dutra, A.A.A.; Pimenta, A.M.C.; De Lima, M.E

Laboratório de Venenos e Toxinas Animais (LVTA), Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

The objective of our study was to analyze the soluble fraction of Tityus bahiensis scorpion venom and to search for individual and intra-specific differences, specially due to gender and extraction event. Scorpions were collected at Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais between october2001 and march 2002 and each one received an individual mark. Scorpions were milked after an starvation period of two weeks and then fed with crickets. The venoms were analyzed by Reversed-Phase (Supelco - C18 column) High Performance Liquid Chromatography and by SDS – PAGE electrophoreses. Many qualitative and quantitative intra-specific differences were observed in both chromatographic and electrophoretic profiles. Also, venoms from females were consistently more complex than those from males and profiles from the same specimen shown that the concentration and some protein constituents had changed from one extraction to another. These results have shown how a venom from a single species can be variable. A deep knowledge of these variations may be useful not only in biotechnology, to prospect new bioactive molecules, but also in evolution studies.

CORRESPONDENCE TO:

Alexandre Augusto de Assis Dutra, Rua Domingos Garcia 151 / 302, Belo Horizonte, MG, CEP: 31 520 200, Brasil, Email: aledutra@hotmail.com