Immediately eye-catching, the Malayan blue coral snake is easily identified by it's bright red head, underside and tail, dark blue body, with bright blue stripes on each side.
Coral snakes, as a group, are beautiful and deadly, but blue coral snakes are thought to be the biggest species of the bunch and have differing properties in their venom. Luckily, they are shy and prefer to retreat rather than bite.
A team at University of Malaya was recently able to analyze venom samples collected from blue coral snakes. Their findings are published in the Journal of Proteomics.
Bites from blue coral snakes can be deadly to humans, with reports of death occurring five minutes after a bite. Researchers are hoping they'll be able to develop an anti venom and improve clinical management when envenomation occurs.
In the past, access to Asiatic coral snake venom has been very limited. This is the first time that analysis of both proteomics and toxicological properties has been performed, Science Daily reports.
Proteomics is the study of proteins. The proteins in snake venom account for many of the biological symptoms experienced by creatures who are envenomated.
About 60 percent of the blue coral snake's venom proteins consists of phospholipase A2 and three-finger toxin. Surprisingly, post-synaptic alpha-neurotoxins are not present, which is a big divergence from other members of the Elapidae family such as cobras, sea snakes and American coral snakes.
Maticotoxin is the unique protein found in Blue coral snakes. It's a cytotoxin isoform and forms the second largest percentage in the snake's proteomics. In 2013, the World Health Organization classified snakebites as a neglected tropical disease. The full analysis of the Blue coral snake proteomics is a big step toward developing anti venom.
Drug discovery also utilizes natural compounds like snake venom and information gleaned from understanding the functions of their different toxins.
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