**Author details**

systematic online database information, and used this technique to analyze the peptidome of amphibian skin secretions. Although amphibian skin secretion is not exactly a venom, it is still a biological model also very promising for the search of new pharmacologically active substances. First, the authors deduced all of putative bioactive peptide sequences by shotgun cloning the cDNAs encoding peptide precursors. Then, they separated the en‐ tire peptidome by UPLC/MS/MS, and confirmed those sequences deduced before by *de no‐*

An Integrated View of the Molecular Recognition and Toxinology - From Analytical Procedures to Biomedical

**Figure 3.** MS/MS spectra interpretation (*de novo* sequencing) for peptide NH2-FPFNSD(K/Q)GFH(K/Q)-CO2H (copyed from reference [73]). The K/Q denotes a doubt about the possibility of being lysine or glutamine, as these two amino acids are isobaric. However, as trypsin cleaves on C-terminal sides of arginines and lysines, it is likely that the middle

Animal venoms are true "cocktails" of substances normally harmful, but that can be ex‐ plored with intelligence for medical use. Many authors even use the word "cornucopia" to define a venom. The cornucopia — junction of the Latin "*cornu*" (horn) with "*copiae*" (strength) -, also called "horn of plenty", is a symbol of nourishment and abundance in clas‐ sical mythology, usually represented by a large horn-shaped container overflowing with products such as flowers, dried fruit, other foodstuffs, and other types of wealthiness. Nowadays it is particularly associated with the Thanksgiving holiday. In toxinology, cornu‐ copia represents the chemical wealth of animal venoms, where one can find thousands of such substances with interesting biological effects that can be explored as candidates for fu‐

*vo* MS/MS sequencing.

Applications

14

amino acid is glutamine and the last one is lysine.

**5. Concluding remarks**

ture pharmaceutical products.

### Ricardo Bastos Cunha

Bioanalytical Chemistry Laboratory, Division of Analytical Chemistry, Institute of Chemis‐ try, University of Brasília, Brazil
