{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,27]],"date-time":"2026-06-27T19:02:48Z","timestamp":1782586968799,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,22]],"date-time":"2021-11-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1637539200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"NIH General Medical Sciences","award":["P20 GM103429"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["P20 GM103429"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Toxins"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Body tissue and venom glands from an eastern population of the scorpion Centruroides vittatus (Say, 1821) were homogenized and molecular constituents removed to characterize putative sodium \u03b2 toxin gene diversity, RT-qPCR, transcriptomic, and proteomic variation. We cloned sodium \u03b2 toxins from genomic DNA, conducted RT-qPCR experiments with seven sodium \u03b2 toxin variants, performed venom gland tissue RNA-seq, and isolated venom proteins for mass spectrophotometry. We identified &gt;70 putative novel sodium \u03b2 toxin genes, 111 toxin gene transcripts, 24 different toxin proteins, and quantified sodium \u03b2 toxin gene expression variation among individuals and between sexes. Our analyses contribute to the growing evidence that venom toxicity among scorpion taxa and their populations may be associated with toxin gene diversity, specific toxin transcripts variation, and subsequent protein production. Here, slight transcript variation among toxin gene variants may contribute to the major toxin protein variation in individual scorpion venom composition.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins13110828","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,1]],"date-time":"2021-12-01T03:12:40Z","timestamp":1638328360000},"page":"828","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Reduced Toxicity of Centruroides vittatus (Say, 1821) May Result from Lowered Sodium \u03b2 Toxin Gene Expression and Toxin Protein Production"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Aimee","family":"Bowman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Arkansas Tech University, 1701 N Boulder Ave., Russellville, AR 72801, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chloe","family":"Fitzgerald","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Arkansas Tech University, 1701 N Boulder Ave., Russellville, AR 72801, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2998-0586","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jeff F.","family":"Pummill","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"High Performance Computing Center, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, 850 W Dickson St., Fayetteville, AR 7270, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7307-4754","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Douglas D.","family":"Rhoads","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas-Fayetteville, 850 W Dickson St., Fayetteville, AR 7270, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tsunemi","family":"Yamashita","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Arkansas Tech University, 1701 N Boulder Ave., Russellville, AR 72801, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Fet, V., and Seldon, P.A. 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