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SOLUTION STRUCTURE OF THE INSECTICIDAL NEUROTOXIN J-ATRACOTOXIN-HV1C
Structural highlights
FunctionTK1C_HADVE This excitatory toxin inhibits insect calcium-activated potassium (KCa) channels (Slo-type). Pan-neuronal expression in Drosophila is lethal but flies engineered to express the toxin only in clock neurons have defects in circadian rhythm but a normal lifespan.[1] [2] [3] [4] Publication Abstract from PubMedWe have isolated a family of insect-selective neurotoxins from the venom of the Australian funnel-web spider that appear to be good candidates for biopesticide engineering. These peptides, which we have named the Janus-faced atracotoxins (J-ACTXs), each contain 36 or 37 residues, with four disulfide bridges, and they show no homology to any sequences in the protein/DNA databases. The three-dimensional structure of one of these toxins reveals an extremely rare vicinal disulfide bridge that we demonstrate to be critical for insecticidal activity. We propose that J-ACTX comprises an ancestral protein fold that we refer to as the disulfide-directed beta-hairpin. Discovery and characterization of a family of insecticidal neurotoxins with a rare vicinal disulfide bridge.,Wang X, Connor M, Smith R, Maciejewski MW, Howden ME, Nicholson GM, Christie MJ, King GF Nat Struct Biol. 2000 Jun;7(6):505-13. PMID:10881200[5] From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. References
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