A comparative study of the molecular composition and electrophysiological activity of the venoms from two fishing spiders Dolomedes mizhoanus and Dolomedes sulfurous.

Dolomedes mizhoanus and Dolomedes sulfurous are two venomous spiders found in the same area in southern China and are characterized by living in water plants and feeding on fish. In this study, the chemical compositions and activities of these venoms were compared. Both venoms contain hundreds of peptides as shown by off-line RP-HPLC/MALDI-TOF-MS analysis, but have a different peptide distribution, with D. mizhoanus venom containing fewer high molecular mass (7000-9000 Da) peptides (3%) than D. sulfurous venom (25.6%). Patch-clamp analyses showed that both venoms inhibited voltage-activated Na(+), K(+) and Ca(2+) channels in rat DRG neurons, however, differences in their inhibitory effects were observed. In general, D. mizhoanus venom had lower inhibitory activity than D. sulfurous venom and both venoms had a different inhibitory spectrum against these ion channels, showing that both venoms are useful for identifying antagonists to them. In addition, intrathoracic injection of both venoms caused severe neurotoxic effects in zebrafish and death at higher concentrations, respectively. Considering that both spiders belong to the same genus, live in the same area and have similar habits, elucidation of the differences between the peptide toxins from both venoms would provide new molecular insights into the evolution of spider peptides.