Biochemical characterisation and substrate-specific proteolytic diversity of venom metalloproteinases in African puff adders

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  By 4028mdk09 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11200575 Biochemical characterisation and substrate-specific proteolytic diversity of venom metalloproteinases in African puff adders Abstract The puff adder ( Bitis arietans ) is a highly venomous viper responsible for many snakebite fatalities in Africa, yet there have been few geographically comprehensive analyses of its venom proteins, particularly of the proteases that play a key role in pathology of envenoming. To address this, we have isolated, identified and characterised the bioactivity of the venom metalloproteases of puff adders obtained from a range of localities. Prominent in all venoms was a PI snake venom metalloproteinase (SVMP), derived from a larger PII precursor. This protein existed as either non-glycosylated (21 kDa) or glycosylated, the latter containing either one (26 kDa) or two N-glycans (30 kDa). All the venoms we tested contained either one or the other form: none had...

Taxonomic notes on a comb-footed spider, Yunohamella mneon (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906), stat. rev. (Araneae: Theridiidae) in East Asia

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Taxonomic notes on a comb-footed spider, Yunohamella mneon (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906), stat. rev. (Araneae: Theridiidae) in East Asia

Abstract

Platnickina mneon (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) is a theridiid species originally described based on a female specimen collected in Saga Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. Although P. mneon was recently considered a junior synonym of Yunohamella lyrica (Walckenaer, 1841), the two species can be clearly distinguished by body coloration and markings, genital morphology, and molecular data. Based on these findings, we reestablish P. mneon as a valid species under the genus Yunohamella, Yunohamella mneon stat. rev. Based on a partial mitochondrial COI gene sequence analysis, our study also revealed that the female of Y. mneon stat. rev. is conspecific to the male currently associated with Yunohamella varietas Lee & Kim, 2021 and we propose Y. mneon stat. rev. = Y. varietas syn. nov. The species is compared with Y. lyrica and Platnickina adamsoni Berland, 1934 and molecular data of Yunohamella species in East Asia are presented, with a summary of the taxonomic history of relevant species in Japan and Korea.

Suzuki, Y., Lee, J.-G. & Kumada, K.-I. (2025) Taxonomic notes on a comb-footed spider, Yunohamella mneon (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906), stat. rev. (Araneae: Theridiidae) in East Asia. Zootaxa, 5691 (2), 359–375. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5691.2.10