Initial peptidomic profiling of Brazilian sea urchins: Arbacia lixula, Lytechinus variegatus and Echinometra lucunter

• Published in: Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
• Main Authors: Juliana Mozer Sciani, Andrews Krupinski Emerenciano, José Roberto Machado Cunha da Silva, Daniel Carvalho Pimenta
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SciELO 2016
• Subjects: Peptides; Toxins; Sea urchin; Peptidomics; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Toxicology. Poisons; RA1190-1270; Zoology; QL1-991; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40409-016-0071-x; https://doaj.org/article/85b41671520647aea55209510ec78548

Abstract Background Sea urchins can be found throughout the Brazilian coast and are reported to be one of the major causes of marine accidents on the shoreline. Although not lethal, these accidents are reported to be extremely painful. In order to understand the toxinology of the Brazilian urchins, a peptidomic approach was performed aiming to characterize the naturally occurring peptides in both the coelomic fluid and the spine. Methods Animals were collected without gender distinction and samples of the coelomic fluid and spines extracted were analyzed by RP-HPLC and mass spectrometry for peptide de novo sequencing. Results Several peptides were identified either in the coelomic fluid or the spine extract (except for E. lucunter). The peptide sequences were aligned with public deposited sequences and possible functions were inferred. Moreover, some peptides can be cryptides, since their sequences were identified within functional proteins, for example thymosin from Strongylocentrotus purpuratus. Conclusions Although preliminary, the peptidomic approach presented here reports, for the first time, the abundance of novel biological molecules derived from these animals. The discovery of such molecules may be of potential biotechnological application, as described for other organisms; nevertheless, further studies are required.