Proteome and peptidome profiling of spider venoms

Spider venoms are an important source of novel molecules with different pharmacological properties. Recent technological developments of proteomics, especially mass spectrometry, have greatly promoted the systematic analysis of spider venom. The enormous diversity of venom components between spider species and the lack of complete genome sequence, and the limited database of protein and peptide sequences make spider venom profiling a challenging task and special considerations for technical strategies are required. This review highlights recently used methods for spider venom profiling. In general, spider venom profiling can be achieved in two parts: proteome profiling of the components with molecular weights above 10 kDa, and peptidome profiling of the components with a molecular weight of 10 kDa or under through the use of different methods. Venom proteomes are rich in various enzymes, hemocyanins, toxin-like proteins and many unknown proteins. Peptidomes are dominated by peptides with a mass of 3-6 kDa with three to five disulfide bonds. Although there are some similarities in peptide superfamily types of venoms from different spider species, the venom profile of each species is unique. The linkage of the peptidomic data with that of the cDNA approach is discussed briefly. Future challenges and perspectives are also highlighted in this review.