Venomics analysis of Thai Daboia siamensis using integrated omics data

Snakebite, classified by World Health Organization (WHO) as a neglected tropical disease, causes more than 100,000 deaths and 400,000 injuries per year. Currently, available antivenoms do not bind with strong specificity to target toxins, which means that severe complications can still occur despite treatment. Moreover, the cost of antivenom is expensive. Knowledge of venom compositions is fundamental for producing a specific antivenom that has high effectiveness, low side effects, and ease of manufacture. With advances in mass spectrometry techniques, venom proteomes can now be analyzed in great depth at high efficiency. However, these techniques require genomic and transcriptomic data for interpreting mass spectrometry data. This study aims to establish and incorporate genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics data to study venomics of Thai venomous snake, Daboia siamensis. More than a hundred proteins that have not been reported as venom components of this snake such as hyaluronidase-1 and Phospholipase B were discovered. The use of conventional reference databases for mass spectrometry analysis can detect only 46% of proteins identified by integrated omics data. Thus, this multi-omics data is necessary for venomics studies. These findings will be valuable not only for antivenom production but also for the development of novel therapeutics.