Scorpion collection
The scorpions were collected from Fars Province, Zarrin Dasht County, south-west of Iran, and transferred alive to the laboratory of Medical Entomology in Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran. Samples were identified via a valid key [42]. Before RNA extraction, venom of the collected scorpions was milked manually to release the venom. Three days after venom milking, the telson of the scorpions were separated and stored at -70◦C. Other parts of the body were stored at ethanol 96% and were kept in the archives of the Museum of the department of Medical Entomology in the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences.
Primer design
To design the gene-specific primer (GSPs), the mRNA sequences of PLA2 from different species of scorpions such as S. maurus (GeneBanke: MF347455), H. leptorus (GeneBanke: KX924472), A. phaiodactylus (GeneBanke: AY571967.1), and Opisthacanthus cayaporum (GeneBanke: FM998793.1) were obtained from national center for biotechnology information (NCBI). The normal size bound was 432 bp. The specific primers were 5'-TCCAAAGAAGAAATGGA (forward primer) and 5'-GTCTTTGTAGCTCTTTTTCCAGG (reverse primer).
Preparation of cDNA
Total RNA was extracted from the venom glands of S. maurus telson by High Pure RNA Isolation Kit, Roche®. RNA sample was treated enzymatically by DNase based on manufacturer's manual. Extracted RNA concentration was measured using a Nanodrop (analytikjena®).
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR)
According to manufacturer's instruction, 3 μL of total RNA was used as a template for cDNA synthesis by AccuPower® CycleScript RT Premix with (d ) (Bioneer Company, Korea). 0.1 to 1 μg of RNA template was filled up to the 20 μL volume with Diethylpyrocarbonate-treated water (DEPC DW) and was dissolved by vortexing. cDNA synthesis reaction was performed in four steps according to manufacturer's manual including 30 sec at 25°C for primer annealing, 4 min at 45°C for cDNA synthesis, 30 sec at 55°C for melting secondary structure and cDNA synthesis, and 5 min at 95°C for heat inactivation. The synthesized cDNA was kept at -70°C for PCR amplification steps as a template.
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
The desired DNA sequences were amplified in total 20 μL volume containing 10 μL Taq DNA Polymerase Master Mix RED (2X), 1 μL forward primer, 1 μL of reverse and finally 1 μL of synthesized cDNA. It was performed to 35 cycles of 30 s at 94°C as denaturation, 30 sec at 50°C as annealing temperature, 30 sec at 72°C as extension and 10 min at 72°C for a final extension.
DNA gel purification and sequencing
PCR products were run onto 2% tris borate EDTA (TBE) agarose gel with appropriate DNA ladder. Our specific band was observed in the gel documentation instrument. Selected band was purified according to protocol of Gene All kit. Expected size bands were sequenced using GSPs forward and reverse.
Phylogenetic analysis
To evaluate the target PLA2 protein, a phylogenetic tree was created based on different characterized related protein sequences including scorpion species, Apis mellifera, and Homo sapiens by utilizing the maximum likelihood method. Multiple sequences alignment for evolutionary analyses were conducted in MEGA7 software based on the Clustal W method [43]. The percentage of replicate trees in which the associated taxa clustered together in the bootstrap test (1000 replicates) were shown next to the branches [44].
Structural characteristics of S. maurus PLA2
MEGA software (Version 7.0) was used for alignments. All primers were designed by the GeneRunner (Version 4) and Oligo 7 software. The designed primers specificity was determined using Primer-BLAST on NCBI (http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Blast.cgi). To identify the structural features of the protein coded by PLA2 and guarantee that obtained sequence could be a part of phospholipase family proteins, the S. maurus PLA2 was translated by GeneRunner software (Version 4.0), and the concluded sequence was evaluated by diverse instruments. Protein BLAST was performed to decide proteins with great closeness to recognize and record their characterization. To compare and classify protein structure, similar proteins were chosen for alignment with Clustal Omaga (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/msa/clustalo/). Amino acid compounds of S.maurus PLA2 were analyzed by utilizing ProtParam online tool (https://web.expasy.org/protparam/). The PLA2 coding gene was translated by GeneRunner software (version 4). A protein BLAST was also carried out for more comparative relation. To disulfide bridge prediction of the target protein, DiANNA 1.1 web server was used [45, 46]. Disulfide bridges formation are essential for biological activity in many proteins [47]. To predict disulfide bonds, DiANNA 1.1 web server (http://clavius.bc.edu/~clotelab/DiANNA/) was used.
Three-Dimensional structure prediction
In order to predict the 3D structure, the SWISS-MODEL online tool (https://swissmodel.expasy.org/) and Phyre2 (http://www.sbg.bio.ic.ac.uk/phyre2/html/page.cgi?id=index ) were used, which predicted the 3D structure of a query protein through the sequence alignment of template proteins. This model was chosen for superimposition. The predicted 3D structure was evaluated by UCSF Chimera software (Version 1.14).
Active site structure
Several online tools were used to evaluate the signal peptide of the gene in question. PLA2 breaks the sn-2 position of the glycerol backbone of phospholipids, mainly in a metal-dependent reaction, to produce lysophospholipid (LysoPL) and a free fatty acid (FA) [8, 9]. Superimposition of active site was carried out by UCSF Chimera (Version 1.14) and DeepView/Swiss-pdbviewer (Version 4.10) software (Figure 3) (34). The root-mean-square deviation (RMSD) of bee venom PLA2 and target protein active site residue was calculated by Chimera software (Version 1.14) to measure the average distance between corresponding atoms in two protein chains based on carbon alpha atoms (Table 2). Active-site residues were universally conserved within protein families, displaying their key role for substrate catalysis [48]. The active site prediction was undertaken by ExPASy-PROSITE (https://prosite.expasy.org/). Several online devices were used for signal peptide analysis such as SignalP 4.1 Server (http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/SignalP/), Signal Signal-3L 2.0, and BLAST (http://sigpep.services.came.sbg.ac.at/signalblast.html).
Prediction of protease cleavage sites
PROSPER (protease specificity prediction Server), (https://prosper.erc.monash.edu.au/webserver.html) and PeptideCutter (http://web.expasy.org/peptide_cutter/) servers were used for prediction of the activated form of target protein. ProtParam (https://web.expasy.org/protparam/) was used for amino acid composition.