MOVING PIECES IN A TAXONOMIC PUZZLE: VENOM 2D-LC/MS ANDA DATA CLUSTERING ANALYSIS TO INFER PHYLOGENETIC RELATIONSHIPS IN SOME SCORPIONS FROM THE BUTHIDAE FAMILY (SCORPIONES)

NASCIMENTO D.G. (1,2), RATES B. (1,2),  SANTOS D.M. (1,2), VERANO-BRAGA T.(1,2), BARBOSA-SILVA A.(3), DUTRA A.A.A. (4), BIONDI I.(5), MARTIN-EAUCLAIRE M.F.(6), DE LIMA M.E.(1,2), PIMENTA A.M.C.(1,2)

(1)Lab. de Venenos e Toxinas Anim.,(2) Núcleo de Biomoléculas,(3)Lab. de Biodados, Biol. Cel. e Desenvolvimento, Depto de Bioquímica e Imunologia, ICB, UFMG, Brasil;(4)Lab. de Biol. Cel. e Molec., Depto de Farmácia, ICEB, UFOP;(5)Lab. de Anim. Peçonhentos e Herpetol., Depto de Ciências Biológicas, UEFS, Brasil;(6) CNRS-FRE 2738, Ingénierie des Protéines, UMR6560, IFR Jean Roche, Marseille, France

Taxonomical positions and phylogenetic relationships concerning representative genera and species from Buthidae family have been mostly inferred based upon morphological characters. Some authors have also compared primary structures of selected molecules found in the venoms from these scorpions. We propose a novel methodology designed to address these issues. The whole venoms from some species exemplifying peculiar cases in the Buthidae family (Tityus stigmurus, T. serrulatus, T. bahiensis, Leiurus quinquestriatus quinquestriatus andL. q. hebraeus), were analyzed by means of a proteomic approach using a 2D-LC/MS technique. The molecules found in these venoms were clustered according to their molecular masses and hydrophobicity index by using the Weka software. Clusters assessment was used to generate a phenetic correlation tree for positioning these species. Our results were in accordance with the classical taxonomy, which places T. serrulatus andT. stigmurus as very close species, T. bahiensis as a less related species and L. q. quinquestriatus andL. q. hebraeus with small differences within the same species (L. quinquestriatus). Therefore, we believe that this is a well-suited method to determine venom complexities that reflect the scorpions’ evolutionary history, which can be crucial to reconstruct their phylogeny through the molecular evolution of their venoms.

KEY WORDS: Data clustering analyses; 2D-LC/MS; Venom proteomics; Tityus serrulatus; T. tigmurus; T. bahiensis; Leiurus quinquestriatus

FINANCIAL SUPPORT: FAPEMIG, MCT-FINEP, CNPq

CORRESPONDENCE TO:A.M.C.PIMENTA, Email: apimenta@icb.ufmg.br