Comparison of Sea Snake (Hydrophiidae) Neurotoxin to Cobra (Naja) Neurotoxin

Toxins

Yumiko Komori¹  Masaya Nagamizu¹  Kei-ichi Uchiya¹  Toshiaki Nikai¹ 

[1] Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Meijo University, Nagoya 468-8503, Japan;

关键词: Praescutata viperina toxin;    Hydrophiinae toxin;    sea snake toxin;    amino acid sequence;    computer modeling;   

DOI  :  10.3390/toxins1020151

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Both sea snakes and cobras have venoms containing postsynaptic neurotoxins. Comparison of the primary structures indicates many similarities, especially the positions of the four disulfide bonds. However, detailed examination reveals differences in several amino acid residues. Amino acid sequences of sea snake neurotoxins were determined, and then compared to cobra neurotoxins by computer modeling. This allowed for easy comparison of the similarities and differences between the two types of postsynaptic neurotoxins. Comparison of computer models for the toxins of sea snakes and cobra will reveal the three dimensional difference of the toxins much clearer than the amino acid sequence alone.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2009 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland