Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Biol Chem. Feb 26, 2017; 8(1): 4-12
Published online Feb 26, 2017. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v8.i1.4
Modern trends in animal venom research - omics and nanomaterials
Yuri N Utkin
Yuri N Utkin, Laboratory of Molecular Toxinology, Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, 117997 Moscow, Russia
Yuri N Utkin, National University of Science and Technology MISiS, 119049 Moscow, Russia
Author contributions: Utkin YN performed all activities related to the intellectual preparation and writing of this paper.
Supported by The Russian Foundation for Basic Research, No. 15-04-01843; the Ministry of Science and Education of the Russian Federation, No. RFMEFI58414X0006.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Utkin YN declares no conflict of interest related to this publication.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Dr. Yuri N Utkin, PhD, Professor, Laboratory of Molecular Toxinology, Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Miklukho-Maklaya 16/10, V-437, 117997 Moscow, Russia. utkin@mx.ibch.ru
Telephone: +7-495-3366522 Fax: +7-495-3366522
Received: September 27, 2016
Peer-review started: September 28, 2016
First decision: October 26, 2016
Revised: December 20, 2016
Accepted: December 27, 2016
Article in press: December 28, 2016
Published online: February 26, 2017
Processing time: 151 Days and 16.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: A number of different methods are used in animal venom research, and this array is constantly expanding. The development of new methods in mass spectrometry and sequencing have allowed for the characterization of venom at different levels, ranging from identification of new toxins to profiling the changes in metabolism of an envenomed organism. The various omics technologies-proteomics, peptidomics, transcriptomics, genomics and metabolomics-have played key roles, as has nanotechnology. Nanomaterials are promising in medicine, and most studies combining venoms and nanomaterials are directed to medical applications, with conjugates of nanoparticles and venom components being proposed for use as drugs or diagnostics.