Viper Venom Botox: The Molecular Origin and Evolution of the Waglerin Peptides Used in Anti-Wrinkle Skin Cream

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• 作者：Jordan Debono ; Bing Xie ; Aude Violette ; Rudy Fourmy…
• 刊名：Journal of Molecular Evolution
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：January 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：84
• 期：1
• 页码：8-11
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Biomedical and Life Sciences
• 刊物主题：Evolutionary Biology; Microbiology; Plant Sciences; Plant Genetics & Genomics; Animal Genetics and Genomics; Cell Biology;
• 出版者：Springer US
• ISSN：1432-1432
• 卷排序：84

文摘

The molecular origin of waglerin peptides has remained enigmatic despite their industrial application in skin cream products to paralyse facial muscles and thus reduce the incidence of wrinkles. Here we show that these neurotoxic peptides are the result of de novo evolution within the prepro region of the C-type natriuretic peptide gene in Tropidolaemus venoms, at a site distinct from the domain encoding for the natriuretic peptide. It is the same region that yielded the azemiopsin peptides from Azemiops feae, indicative of a close relationship of this toxin gene between these two genera. The precursor region for the molecular evolution is a biodiversity hotspot that has yielded other novel bioactive peptides with novel activities. We detail the diversity of components in this and other species in order to explore what characteristics enable it to be such a biodiscovery treasure trove. The unusual function of Tropidolaemus venoms may have been selected for due to evolutionary pressures brought about by a high likelihood of prey escape.