Electrophoretic characterisation of the venom samples obtained from various Anatolian snakes (Serpentes: Colubridae, Viperidae, Elapidae)

The venoms extracted from a colubrid snake [Malpolon monspessulanus (Hermann)], seven viperids [Montivipera xanthina (Gray), Montivipera wagneri Nilson &Andrén, Vipera ammodytes (Linnaeus), Vipera kaznakovi (Nikolsky), Vipera eriwanensis (Bonaparte), Vipera barani Böhme & Joger, Macrovipera lebetina (Linnaeus)] and an elapid snake [Walterinnesia aegyptia (Lataste)] collected from various regions of Anatolia were compared using polyacrylamide gel disc electrophoresis and densitometry analysis methods. The electrophoretic patterns (protein bands) of the examined venom snakes were demonstrated. The resulting electropherograms showed important qualitative differences amongst the colubrid snake Malpolon monspessulanus, the elapid species Walterinnesia aegyptia and the viperid snakes. In M. monspessulanus and W. aegyptia samples the total protein fraction numbers were 11 and 12, respectively, while in viperid samples the number was between 10 and 14, indicating a higher venom complexity in viperids compared to that of opistoglyphcolubrid and proteroglyph-elapid snakes. Electrophoretic data support the phylogenetic argument previously outlined for the family Viperidae. Moreover, it is concluded that the Macrovipera wagneri and Walterinnesia aegyptia are closely related taxa with front-fanged delivery systems in the light of protein band analogies.