About this Research Topic
Venoms are adaptive phenotypes found scattered across the Animal Kingdom. Venoms are typically complex mixtures of molecules collectively called “toxins”. Toxins represent intrinsic traits that serve predatory, digestive and defensive functions essential for the survival of the venomous animals. To execute these diverse biological functions, toxins are highly evolved to target and interact with the intricate physiological system of the prey and competitor or predator. Research on venoms and toxins are important to understand the pharmacological properties of these natural, bioactive compounds which have immerse medical importance from the point of envenomation and poisoning, as well as application potentials in drug discovery.
It is, nevertheless, challenging to unravel the complex venom composition in order to characterize the bioactivities of the individual toxins therein. The advent of “-omics” technologies has greatly advanced the profiling of venom composition at a high-throughput pace and facilitated the isolation of toxin components for further characterization. In the context, “venomics” has emerged as a specific and useful tool to study the complexity and diversity of various venoms. The integration of venomic tool in pharmacological study of toxins will undeniably unleash greater potentials of scientific discovery in the field.
This Research Topic focuses on recent advancement in venomics and its applications in functional characterization of venoms or toxins, coined as “Functional Omics of Venoms and Toxins”. Articles that report only in silico findings should not be submitted to this collection. We welcome expert Reviews of aspects relating to the topic, and Original Research articles as well as Communications describing novel findings related but not limited to, the following sub-topics:
- Venomics and its applications (e.g. genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics) in unravelling venom complexity
- Advancement in venomic methodology
- Functional studies of venoms and toxins, in vitro or in vivo
- Therapies for neutralization of venoms and toxins (e.g. antibodies, antivenoms, anti-toxins, adjunct treatment)
- Clinical studies exploring the use of Omics in assisting envenoming or poisoning management
It is, nevertheless, challenging to unravel the complex venom composition in order to characterize the bioactivities of the individual toxins therein. The advent of “-omics” technologies has greatly advanced the profiling of venom composition at a high-throughput pace and facilitated the isolation of toxin components for further characterization. In the context, “venomics” has emerged as a specific and useful tool to study the complexity and diversity of various venoms. The integration of venomic tool in pharmacological study of toxins will undeniably unleash greater potentials of scientific discovery in the field.
This Research Topic focuses on recent advancement in venomics and its applications in functional characterization of venoms or toxins, coined as “Functional Omics of Venoms and Toxins”. Articles that report only in silico findings should not be submitted to this collection. We welcome expert Reviews of aspects relating to the topic, and Original Research articles as well as Communications describing novel findings related but not limited to, the following sub-topics:
- Venomics and its applications (e.g. genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics) in unravelling venom complexity
- Advancement in venomic methodology
- Functional studies of venoms and toxins, in vitro or in vivo
- Therapies for neutralization of venoms and toxins (e.g. antibodies, antivenoms, anti-toxins, adjunct treatment)
- Clinical studies exploring the use of Omics in assisting envenoming or poisoning management
Keywords: venoms, toxins, venomics, antivenomics, genomics, transcriptomics, envenomation, poisoning
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
