Professor Ji Yonghua and hisresearch team in School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University recently haverevealed the “armory” and “killing strategies” of vespa veluting nigrithoraxbuysson (vespa). Related research results have been published on Scientific Reports. The experts thoughtthat such results are the first-hand system information of analyzing vespatoxin components on a world wide scale and it lays the foundation for emergencytreatment.

According to introduction, People would generate severe allergicand toxicity reaction after being stung by vespa and even develop into organfailure to death. Since 2005, vespa stinging incidents increased year by year. In some provinces, thousands of peoplehave been ill in hospital and even there are dozens of people losing theirlives. In order to clarify the toxin components and toxicological mechanism ofvespa, Ji Yonghua’s team has done transcriptome sequencing the expressed genesin venom, comparing and analyzing the differences of gene expression spectrumbefore and after the venom release. They finally confirmed that there are tenkey genes areassociated with the toxin synthesis and function execution. Theresearch result showed that the main reason for the death of victim weremultiple organ exhaustion caused by biood toxins, neurotoxin and allergicfactors.

Ji Yonghua introduced that theseten genes are like counselors of vespa and controlled the assemble and use of“weapon”. Understanding the structural features and controlling mode of itsencoded protein molecules could clarify the ins and outs of “armory”, expoundingits toxin components and toxicity mechanism and provided reliable referencesfor clinical treatments. This research also could help exploring the similarfunctional genes of other bee species or poisonous species.

Time:2015.6.11

Source:Health News