The main approaches,the recent achievements and the present problems in snake venomics research were summarized in this paper. In recent years, the elucidation of the panorama of snake venom composition by utilizing high-throughput proteomic approaches has become a hotspot at the field of proteomics research. The protocols for snake venomics studies involve fractionation of the crude venom, followed by proteomic characterization and bioinformatics analysis. Methods for crude venom separation mainly include Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis(2-DE), Gel filtration and RP-HPLC; Proteomic characterization consists of Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), Liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), Electron spray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) and Electron spray ionization-Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance-mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICR MS); Bioinformatics identification mostly involves BLAST query of peptides interpreted by utilizing Mascot or MS-Fit search engine on protein specific internet sites. Up to now, based on proteomics approaches, venomes from more than one hundred species (subspecies) of fifty-eight Genus among three families (Elapidae, Colubridae and Viperidae) have been studied and more than ten protein families have been identified. These findings will undoubtedly contribute to a deeper understanding of snake venom evolution and diversification, the mechanism of the envenomation and the design of new drugs in search of leading compounds. In the future for snake venomics research, related high-throughput approaches for absolute quantification of snake venome and characterization of identified functional proteins remain to be developed.

snake venom;proteomics;methodology;progresss