EVIDENCE OF VENOM FACTOR-LIKE IN CROCODILIANS

CORDERO GIL, TRINIDAD DE LOS ÁNGELES; AMAVET, PATRICIA; MARELLI, BELKIS ESTER; SIROSKI, PABLO ARIEL

ORGANISMS DIVERSITY & EVOLUTION

SPRINGER HEIDELBERG

Año: 2023

1439-6092

The cobra venom factor (CVF) is an unusual non-toxic complement system-activating protein reported in the venom of many family Elapidae snakes, and it is closely related to C3 complement. The archosaurs, including crocodilians, were traditionally considered a completely non-venomous group of animals; however, the identification of some related sequences similar to CVFproteins in the crocodilian genome may trigger important discussions and manage interesting hypotheses. The aim of this work was to identify VF-like protein in Caiman latirostris DNA samples. The results demonstrate the presence of VF-like in C. latirostris and showed a strong homology of VF-like and C3 complement, indicating a probable paralogy between both proteins in crocodilians. Also, these finding provide some potential explanations to justify presence of VF-like protein in crocodilians: one is based on the horizontal transfer of a transposable element from a virus as a vector; and another proposes the horizontal gene transfer by the predator-prey interaction between crocodilians and snakes. Our results are in accordance with investigations that propose the presence of snakes’ venom components in non-venomous reptiles. However, more research will be needed to determine if VF-like in crocodilians has a similar function to CVF.