Combined proteomics and transcriptomics identifies sting-related toxins of jellyfish Cyanea nozakii

摘要

Jellyfish sting has become a worldwide issue of critical concern to human health and safety in coastal areas in recent decades. Cyanea nozakii is one of the dominant blooming species and dangerous stingers in China. However, it remains unclear how many and what types of toxins are present in the venom. So, we used a combined transcriptomics and proteomics approach to investigate the venom composition of jellyfish C. nozakii. In total 4,608,524 Illumina valid reads were obtained to de novo assemble to 40,434 unigenes in the transcriptomics analysis. And, a total of 311,635 MS/MS spectra with 12,247 unique MS/MS spectra were generated to 1556 homologous proteins in the proteomics analysis. 174 potential toxin proteins were identified, with 27 proteins homology to the toxins from venomous animals, including phospholipase A2, zinc metalloproteinase-disintegrin agkistin, serine protease inhibitor, plancitoxin-1, alpha-latrocrustotoxin-Ltla, etc. This study described the transcriptomics and venom proteomics of jellyfish C nozakii for the first time. Our findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the venom composition of C nozakii. Furthermore, the results may also be very helpful for the discovery of novel bioactive proteins, as well as the development of effective treatments for jellyfish sting in the future.