Analysis of the snake venom peptidome

Abstract

Snake venom peptidomes are known to be a large source of molecules with different pharmacological properties. The complexity and variability of snake venoms, the presence of proteinases, and the lack of complete species-specific genome sequences make snake venom peptidome profiling a challenging task that requires especial technical strategies for sample processing and mass spectrometric analysis. Here we describe a method for assessing the content of snake venom peptides and highlight the importance of sampling procedures, as they substantially influence the peptidomic complexity of snake venoms.