{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,14]],"date-time":"2026-09-14T22:31:51Z","timestamp":1789425111106,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,14]],"date-time":"2022-01-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642118400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"the National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["81774099"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["81774099"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Guangdong Huxin Biotech Technology Co. Ltd","award":["102017031702v1"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["102017031702v1"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Toxins"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We analyzed, for the first time, the major components and biological properties of the venom of Vespa bicolor, a wasp from South China. Using HPLC and SDS-PAGE, combined with LC\u2013MS\/MS, MALDI-TOF-MS, and NMR data to analyze V. bicolor venom (VBV), we found that VBV contains three proteins (hyaluronidase A, phospholipase A1 (two isoforms), and antigen 5 protein) with allergenic activity, two unreported proteins (proteins 5 and 6), and two active substances with large quantities (mastoparan-like peptide 12a (Vb-MLP 12a), and 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)). In addition, the antimicrobial activity of VBV was determined, and results showed that it had a significant effect against anaerobic bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration for Propionibacterium acnes were 12.5 \u00b5g\/mL. Unsurprisingly, VBV had strong antioxidant activity because of the abundance of 5-HT. Contrary to other Vespa venom, VBV showed significant anti-inflammatory activity, even at low concentrations (1 \u00b5g\/mL), and we found that Vb-MLP 12a showed pro-inflammatory activity by promoting the proliferation of RAW 264.7 cells. Cytotoxicity studies showed that VBV had similar antiproliferative effects against all tested tumor cell lines (HepG2, Hela, MCF-7, A549, and SASJ-1), with HepG2 being the most susceptible. Overall, this study on VBV has high clinical importance and promotes the development of Vespa bicolor resources.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins14010059","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,16]],"date-time":"2022-01-16T20:46:06Z","timestamp":1642365966000},"page":"59","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Characterization of the Composition and Biological Activity of the Venom from Vespa bicolor Fabricius, a Wasp from South China"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3524-9386","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yong-Hua","family":"Wu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Drug Delivery Systems, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China"},{"name":"Guangdong Technology Research Center for Advanced Chinese Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China"},{"name":"Production and Research Base for Wasp Deinsectization, Guangdong Huxin Biotech Technology Co., Ltd., Jiangmen 529245, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yu","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Technology Research Center for Advanced Chinese Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dan-Qiao","family":"Fang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Drug Delivery Systems, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Technology Research Center for Advanced Chinese Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jing-An","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Production and Research Base for Wasp Deinsectization, Guangdong Huxin Biotech Technology Co., Ltd., Jiangmen 529245, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lin","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Technology Research Center for Advanced Chinese Medicine, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhu-Fen","family":"Lv","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Drug Delivery Systems, Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"497","DOI":"10.1016\/j.aspen.2013.08.003","article-title":"Comparative transcriptome analysis of the venom sac and gland of social wasp Vespa tropica and solitary wasp Rhynchium brunneum","volume":"16","author":"Baek","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Asia-Pacific E\u0300ntomol."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"290","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2015.08.013","article-title":"Peptidome profiling of venom from the social wasp Polybia paulista","volume":"107","author":"Dias","year":"2015","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"657","DOI":"10.1007\/s00011-014-0738-0","article-title":"Vespa tropica venom suppresses lipopolysaccharide-mediated secretion of pro-inflammatory cyto-chemokines by abrogating nuclear factor-kappa B activation in microglia","volume":"63","author":"Kaushik","year":"2014","journal-title":"Inflamm. Res."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apjtb.2015.12.001","article-title":"In vitro antihistamine-releasing activity of a peptide derived from wasp venom of Vespa orientalis","volume":"6","author":"Jalaei","year":"2016","journal-title":"Asian Pac. J. Trop. Biomed."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2020.01.001","article-title":"Asian hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax venom: Evaluation and identification of the bioactive compound responsible for human keratinocyte protection against oxidative stress","volume":"176","author":"Le","year":"2020","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"151","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2013.08.056","article-title":"Antimicrobial peptides from the venom gland of the social wasp Vespa tropica","volume":"74","author":"Yang","year":"2013","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"172","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2018.04.029","article-title":"Diversity of peptidic and proteinaceous toxins from social Hymenoptera venoms","volume":"148","author":"Lasa","year":"2018","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"609","DOI":"10.1016\/S0041-0101(97)00080-9","article-title":"Structures and biological activities of new wasp venom peptides isolated from the black-bellied hornet (Vespa basalis) venom","volume":"36","author":"Ho","year":"1998","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"An, S., Chen, L., Wei, J.-F., Yang, X., Ma, N., Xu, X., Xu, X., He, S., Lu, J., and Lai, R. (2012). Purification and Characterization of Two New Allergens from the Venom of Vespa magnifica. PLoS ONE, 7.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0031920"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2012.12.019","article-title":"Hyaluronidase from the venom of the social wasp Polybia paulista (Hymenoptera, Vespidae): Cloning, structural modeling, purification, and immunological analysis","volume":"64","author":"Jacomini","year":"2013","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2018.03.015","article-title":"Purification and biochemical characterization of VesT1s, a novel phospholipase A1 isoform isolated from the venom of the greater banded wasp Vespa tropica","volume":"148","author":"Rungsa","year":"2018","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"151","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2012.10.024","article-title":"Purification and structural characterisation of phospholipase A1 (Vespapase, Ves a 1) from Thai banded tiger wasp (Vespa affinis) venom","volume":"61","author":"Sukprasert","year":"2013","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1016\/0091-6749(84)90094-0","article-title":"Allergens in Hymenoptera venom XI. Isolation of protein allergens from Vespula maculifrons (yellow jacket) venom","volume":"74","author":"Hoffman","year":"1984","journal-title":"J. Allergy Clin. Immunol."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bazon, M.L., Silveira, L.H., Simioni, P.U., and Brochetto-Braga, M.R. (2018). Current Advances in Immunological Studies on the Vespidae Venom Antigen 5: Therapeutic and Prophylaxis to Hypersensitivity Responses. Toxins, 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins10080305"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"159","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2016.06.005","article-title":"Comparative proteomic analysis of two wasps venom, Vespa tropica and Vespa affinis","volume":"119","author":"Rungsa","year":"2016","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"44","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2016.11.006","article-title":"Molecular cloning, expression and IgE-immunoreactivity of phospholipase A1, a major allergen from Polybia paulista (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) venom","volume":"124","author":"Pereira","year":"2016","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2007.10.003","article-title":"A phospholipase A1 platelet activator from the wasp venom of Vespa magnifica (Smith)","volume":"51","author":"Yang","year":"2008","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bazon, M.L., Perez-Riverol, A., Dos Santos-Pinto, J.R.A., Fernandes, L.G.R., Lasa, A.M., Justo-Jacomini, D.L., Palma, M.S., De Lima Zollner, R., and Brochetto-Braga, M.R. (2017). Heterologous Expression, Purification and Immunoreactivity of the Antigen 5 from Polybia paulista Wasp Venom. Toxins, 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins9090259"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lee, S.H., Baek, J.H., and Yoon, K.A. (2016). Differential Properties of Venom Peptides and Proteins in Solitary vs. Social Hunting Wasps. Toxins, 8.","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins8020032"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3609","DOI":"10.1007\/s00204-020-02859-3","article-title":"Diversity of compounds in Vespa spp. venom and the epidemiology of its sting: A global appraisal","volume":"94","author":"Herrera","year":"2020","journal-title":"Arch. Toxicol."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3195","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bbamem.2016.09.021","article-title":"Mastoparan is a membranolytic anti-cancer peptide that works synergistically with gemcitabine in a mouse model of mammary carcinoma","volume":"1858","author":"Hilchie","year":"2016","journal-title":"Biochim. Biophys. Acta (BBA)\u2014Biomembr."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"84","DOI":"10.1016\/j.peptides.2017.07.012","article-title":"Characterization of two peptides isolated from the venom of social wasp Chartergellus communis (Hyme-noptera: Vespidae): Influence of multiple alanine residues and C-terminal amidation on biological effects","volume":"95","author":"Lopes","year":"2017","journal-title":"Peptides"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"167","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijantimicag.2016.11.013","article-title":"Evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of the mastoparan Polybia-MPII isolated from venom of the social wasp Pseudopolybia vespiceps testacea (Vespidae, Hymenoptera)","volume":"49","author":"Silva","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. J. Antimicrob. Agents"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2037","DOI":"10.1016\/j.peptides.2011.08.026","article-title":"Evaluating antioxidative activities of amino acid substitutions on mastoparan-B","volume":"32","author":"Yang","year":"2011","journal-title":"Peptides"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2027","DOI":"10.1016\/j.peptides.2011.08.015","article-title":"Structural and biological characterization of mastoparans in the venom of Vespa species in Taiwan","volume":"32","author":"Lin","year":"2011","journal-title":"Peptides"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Frangieh, J., Salma, Y., Haddad, K., Mattei, C., Legros, C., Fajloun, Z., and El Obeid, D. (2019). First Characterization of The Venom from Apis mellifera syriaca, A Honeybee from The Middle East Region. Toxins, 11.","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins11040191"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"116","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cbpb.2009.02.010","article-title":"A novel serine protease inhibitor from the venom of Vespa bicolor Fabricius","volume":"153","author":"Yang","year":"2009","journal-title":"Comp. Biochem. Physiol. Part B Biochem. Mol. Biol."},{"key":"ref_28","unstructured":"Yin, X., Tang, F., Huang, Y., and Huang, X. (2017). Medicinal Liquor Useful for Treating Rheumatism Comprises Hornet, Vespa bicolor and White Wine. (Patent Application No. CN107397762-A2017)."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1887","DOI":"10.1016\/j.peptides.2008.07.018","article-title":"Antimicrobial peptides from the venoms of Vespa bicolor Fabricius","volume":"29","author":"Chen","year":"2008","journal-title":"Peptides"},{"key":"ref_30","first-page":"317","article-title":"A Novel Bioactive Peptide with Myotropic Activity from Wasp Venoms","volume":"9","author":"Yan","year":"2011","journal-title":"Chin. J. Nat. Med."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"249","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2005.10.015","article-title":"Two families of antimicrobial peptides from wasp (Vespa magnifica) venom","volume":"47","author":"Xu","year":"2006","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2304","DOI":"10.1021\/np200537v","article-title":"Antifouling Properties of Simple Indole and Purine Alkaloids from the Mediterranean Gorgonian Paramuricea clavata","volume":"74","author":"Culioli","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. Nat. Prod."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhou, S.-T., Luan, K., Ni, L.-L., Wang, Y., Yuan, S.-M., Che, Y.-H., Yang, Z.-Z., Zhang, C.-G., and Yang, Z.-B. (2019). A Strategy for Quality Control of Vespa magnifica (Smith) Venom Based on HPLC Fingerprint Analysis and Multi-Component Separation Combined with Quantitative Analysis. Molecules, 24.","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules24162920"},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"425","DOI":"10.2174\/138620706777698481","article-title":"Antioxidants and inflammatory disease: Synthetic and natural antioxidants with an-ti-inflammatory activity","volume":"9","author":"Geronikaki","year":"2006","journal-title":"Comb. Chem. High Throughput Screen."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"113","DOI":"10.1016\/j.peptides.2014.09.024","article-title":"Mastoparan induces apoptosis in B1 6F10-Nex2 melanoma cells via the intrinsic mitochondrial pathway and displays antitumor activity in vivo","volume":"68","author":"Figueiredo","year":"2015","journal-title":"Peptides"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"589","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2007.05.003","article-title":"Myotoxic effects of mastoparan from Polybia paulista (Hy-menoptera, Epiponini) wasp venom in mice skeletal muscle","volume":"50","author":"Rocha","year":"2007","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"507","DOI":"10.3923\/ijp.2017.507.515","article-title":"Exploration Through the Venoms from Hymenoptera as Potential Therapeutic Agents in Cancer Therapy","volume":"13","author":"Anselme","year":"2017","journal-title":"Int. J. Pharmacol."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"151","DOI":"10.2174\/157489208786242278","article-title":"Targeting heparan sulfate proteoglycans in breast cancer treatment","volume":"3","author":"Koo","year":"2008","journal-title":"Recent Patents Anti-Cancer Drug Discov."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2893","DOI":"10.1038\/onc.2010.87","article-title":"Membrane-bound mucins: The mechanistic basis for alterations in the growth and survival of cancer cells","volume":"29","author":"Bafna","year":"2010","journal-title":"Oncogene"},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Feyissa, B.A., Renaud, J., Nasrollahi, V., Kohalmi, S.E., and Hannoufa, A. (2020). Transcriptome-IPMS analysis reveals a tissue-dependent miR156\/SPL13 regulatory mechanism in alfalfa drought tolerance. BMC Genom., 21.","DOI":"10.1186\/s12864-020-07118-4"},{"key":"ref_41","first-page":"195","article-title":"Purification and characterization of a novel type of neurotoxic peptides from the venom of the Iranian scorpion Hemiscorpius lepturus","volume":"23","author":"Maleki","year":"2019","journal-title":"Iran J. Basic Med. Sci."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"325","DOI":"10.1590\/S1678-91992012000300010","article-title":"Characterization of the allergen Sol gem 2 from the fire ant venom, Solenopsis geminata","volume":"18","author":"Sukprasert","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Venom. Anim. Toxins Incl. Trop. Dis."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"33","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2020.02.027","article-title":"Identifying the toxins in hornet (Vespa basalis) venom that induce rat pain responses","volume":"179","author":"Zhou","year":"2020","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"22","DOI":"10.1186\/1678-9199-20-22","article-title":"In vitro antibacterial effect of wasp (Vespa orientalis) venom","volume":"20","author":"Jalaei","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Venom. Anim. Toxins Incl. Trop. Dis."},{"key":"ref_45","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1449","DOI":"10.1016\/j.peptides.2010.05.011","article-title":"Evaluation of the epinecidin-1 peptide as an active ingredient in cleaning solutions against pathogens","volume":"31","author":"Pan","year":"2010","journal-title":"Peptides"},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Miazga-Karska, M., Michalak, K., and Ginalska, G. (2020). Anti-Acne Action of Peptides Isolated from Burdock Root\u2014Preliminary Studies and Pilot Testing. Molecules, 25.","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules25092027"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"94","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2021.06.002","article-title":"New bioactive peptides from the venom gland of a social hornet Vespa velutina","volume":"199","author":"Meng","year":"2021","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"594","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bjp.2018.06.008","article-title":"Phenolic-antioxidant capacity of mango seed kernels: Therapeutic effect against viper venoms","volume":"28","author":"Hsalama","year":"2018","journal-title":"Rev. Bras. Farm."}],"container-title":["Toxins"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6651\/14\/1\/59\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,13]],"date-time":"2025-10-13T13:39:49Z","timestamp":1760362789000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-6651\/14\/1\/59"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,14]]},"references-count":48,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1]]}},"alternative-id":["toxins14010059"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/toxins14010059","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-6651"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-6651","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,14]]}}}