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Hoepner CM, Stewart ZK, Qiao R, Fobert EK, Prentis PJ, Colella A, Chataway T, Burke da Silva K, Abbott CA. Proteotransciptomics of the Most Popular Host Sea Anemone Entacmaea quadricolor Reveals Not All Toxin Genes Expressed by Tentacles Are Recruited into Its Venom Arsenal. Toxins (Basel) 2024; 16:85. [PMID: 38393163 PMCID: PMC10893224 DOI: 10.3390/toxins16020085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2023] [Revised: 01/30/2024] [Accepted: 01/30/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
While the unique symbiotic relationship between anemonefishes and sea anemones is iconic, it is still not fully understood how anemonefishes can withstand and thrive within the venomous environment of their host sea anemone. In this study, we used a proteotranscriptomics approach to elucidate the proteinaceous toxin repertoire from the most common host sea anemone, Entacmaea quadricolor. Although 1251 different toxin or toxin-like RNA transcripts were expressed in E. quadricolor tentacles (0.05% of gene clusters, 1.8% of expression) and 5375 proteins were detected in milked venom, only 4% of proteins detected in venom were putative toxins (230), and they only represent on average 14% of the normalised protein expression in the milked venom samples. Thus, most proteins in milked venom do not appear to have a toxin function. This work raises the perils of defining a dominant venom phenotype based on transcriptomics data alone in sea anemones, as we found that the dominant venom phenotype differs between the transcriptome and proteome abundance data. E. quadricolor venom contains a mixture of toxin-like proteins of unknown and known function. A newly identified toxin protein family, Z3, rich in conserved cysteines of unknown function, was the most abundant at the RNA transcript and protein levels. The venom was also rich in toxins from the Protease S1, Kunitz-type and PLA2 toxin protein families and contains toxins from eight venom categories. Exploring the intricate venom toxin components in other host sea anemones will be crucial for improving our understanding of how anemonefish adapt to the venomous environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cassie M. Hoepner
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Zachary K. Stewart
- Centre for Agriculture and Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Robert Qiao
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Emily K. Fobert
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
- School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia
| | - Peter J. Prentis
- Centre for Agriculture and Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Alex Colella
- Flinders Proteomics Facility, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Tim Chataway
- Flinders Proteomics Facility, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Karen Burke da Silva
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Catherine A. Abbott
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia
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Ashwood LM, Elnahriry KA, Stewart ZK, Shafee T, Naseem MU, Szanto TG, van der Burg CA, Smith HL, Surm JM, Undheim EAB, Madio B, Hamilton BR, Guo S, Wai DCC, Coyne VL, Phillips MJ, Dudley KJ, Hurwood DA, Panyi G, King GF, Pavasovic A, Norton RS, Prentis PJ. Genomic, functional and structural analyses elucidate evolutionary innovation within the sea anemone 8 toxin family. BMC Biol 2023; 21:121. [PMID: 37226201 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-023-01617-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/09/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The ShK toxin from Stichodactyla helianthus has established the therapeutic potential of sea anemone venom peptides, but many lineage-specific toxin families in Actiniarians remain uncharacterised. One such peptide family, sea anemone 8 (SA8), is present in all five sea anemone superfamilies. We explored the genomic arrangement and evolution of the SA8 gene family in Actinia tenebrosa and Telmatactis stephensoni, characterised the expression patterns of SA8 sequences, and examined the structure and function of SA8 from the venom of T. stephensoni. RESULTS We identified ten SA8-family genes in two clusters and six SA8-family genes in five clusters for T. stephensoni and A. tenebrosa, respectively. Nine SA8 T. stephensoni genes were found in a single cluster, and an SA8 peptide encoded by an inverted SA8 gene from this cluster was recruited to venom. We show that SA8 genes in both species are expressed in a tissue-specific manner and the inverted SA8 gene has a unique tissue distribution. While the functional activity of the SA8 putative toxin encoded by the inverted gene was inconclusive, its tissue localisation is similar to toxins used for predator deterrence. We demonstrate that, although mature SA8 putative toxins have similar cysteine spacing to ShK, SA8 peptides are distinct from ShK peptides based on structure and disulfide connectivity. CONCLUSIONS Our results provide the first demonstration that SA8 is a unique gene family in Actiniarians, evolving through a variety of structural changes including tandem and proximal gene duplication and an inversion event that together allowed SA8 to be recruited into the venom of T. stephensoni.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren M Ashwood
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia.
- Cancer Program, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, 4006, Australia.
| | - Khaled A Elnahriry
- Medicinal Chemistry, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, VIC, 3052, Australia
| | - Zachary K Stewart
- Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
| | - Thomas Shafee
- Department of Animal Plant & Soil Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia
- Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Muhammad Umair Naseem
- Department of Biophysics and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Tibor G Szanto
- Department of Biophysics and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Chloé A van der Burg
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
- Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Otago, Dunedin, 9016, New Zealand
| | - Hayden L Smith
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
| | - Joachim M Surm
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 9190401, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Eivind A B Undheim
- Department of Biosciences, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, University of Oslo, Blindern, PO Box 1066, 0316, Oslo, Norway
- Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Bruno Madio
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Brett R Hamilton
- Centre for Advanced Imaging, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
- Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Shaodong Guo
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Dorothy C C Wai
- Medicinal Chemistry, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, VIC, 3052, Australia
| | - Victoria L Coyne
- Research Infrastructure, Central Analytical Research Facility, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
| | - Matthew J Phillips
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
| | - Kevin J Dudley
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
- Research Infrastructure, Central Analytical Research Facility, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
| | - David A Hurwood
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
- Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
| | - Gyorgy Panyi
- Department of Biophysics and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4032, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Glenn F King
- Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
- ARC Centre for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Ana Pavasovic
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
| | - Raymond S Norton
- Medicinal Chemistry, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Parkville, VIC, 3052, Australia
- ARC Centre for Fragment-Based Design, Monash University, Parkville, VIC, 3052, Australia
| | - Peter J Prentis
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
- Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, 4000, Australia
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Fitzgerald DM, Spence RJ, Stewart ZK, Prentis PJ, Sillence MN, de Laat MA. The effect of diet change and insulin dysregulation on the faecal microbiome of ponies. J Exp Biol 2020; 223:jeb219154. [PMID: 32098884 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.219154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2019] [Accepted: 02/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
The equine microbiome can change in response to dietary alteration and may play a role in insulin dysregulation. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of adding pasture to a hay diet on the faecal bacterial microbiome of both healthy and insulin-dysregulated ponies. Faecal samples were collected from 16 ponies before and after dietary change to enable bacterial 16S rRNA sequencing of the V3-V4 region. The dominant phyla in all samples were the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. The evenness of the bacterial populations decreased after grazing pasture, and when a pony was moderately insulin dysregulated (P=0.001). Evenness scores negatively correlated with post-prandial glucagon-like peptide-1 concentration after a hay-only diet (r²=-0.7, P=0.001). A change in diet explained 3% of faecal microbiome variability. We conclude that metabolically healthy ponies have greater microbial stability when challenged with a subtle dietary change, compared with moderately insulin-dysregulated ponies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danielle M Fitzgerald
- Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Robert J Spence
- Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Zachary K Stewart
- Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Peter J Prentis
- Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Martin N Sillence
- Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
| | - Melody A de Laat
- Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4001, Australia
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Surm JM, Stewart ZK, Papanicolaou A, Pavasovic A, Prentis PJ. The draft genome of Actinia tenebrosa reveals insights into toxin evolution. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:11314-11328. [PMID: 31641475 PMCID: PMC6802032 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2019] [Revised: 08/06/2019] [Accepted: 08/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Sea anemones have a wide array of toxic compounds (peptide toxins found in their venom) which have potential uses as therapeutics. To date, the majority of studies characterizing toxins in sea anemones have been restricted to species from the superfamily, Actinioidea. No highly complete draft genomes are currently available for this superfamily, however, highlighting our limited understanding of the genes encoding toxins in this important group. Here we have sequenced, assembled, and annotated a draft genome for Actinia tenebrosa. The genome is estimated to be approximately 255 megabases, with 31,556 protein-coding genes. Quality metrics revealed that this draft genome matches the quality and completeness of other model cnidarian genomes, including Nematostella, Hydra, and Acropora. Phylogenomic analyses revealed strong conservation of the Cnidaria and Hexacorallia core-gene set. However, we found that lineage-specific gene families have undergone significant expansion events compared with shared gene families. Enrichment analysis performed for both gene ontologies, and protein domains revealed that genes encoding toxins contribute to a significant proportion of the lineage-specific genes and gene families. The results make clear that the draft genome of A. tenebrosa will provide insight into the evolution of toxins and lineage-specific genes, and provide an important resource for the discovery of novel biological compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joachim M. Surm
- Faculty of HealthSchool of Biomedical SciencesQueensland University of TechnologyKelvin GroveQldAustralia
- Institute of Health and Biomedical InnovationQueensland University of TechnologyKelvin GroveQldAustralia
| | - Zachary K. Stewart
- Science and Engineering FacultySchool of Earth, Environmental and Biological SciencesQueensland University of TechnologyBrisbaneQldAustralia
- Institute for Future EnvironmentsQueensland University of TechnologyBrisbaneQldAustralia
| | | | - Ana Pavasovic
- Faculty of HealthSchool of Biomedical SciencesQueensland University of TechnologyKelvin GroveQldAustralia
| | - Peter J. Prentis
- Science and Engineering FacultySchool of Earth, Environmental and Biological SciencesQueensland University of TechnologyBrisbaneQldAustralia
- Institute for Future EnvironmentsQueensland University of TechnologyBrisbaneQldAustralia
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