Download MendeleyDiscovery and characterization of a family of insecticidal neurotoxins with a rare vicinal disulfide bridge.
Wang, X., Connor, M., Smith, R., Maciejewski, M.W., Howden, M.E., Nicholson, G.M., Christie, M.J., King, G.F.(2000) Nat Struct Biol 7: 505-513
- PubMed: 10881200
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/75921
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
1DL0 - PubMed Abstract:
We 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.
Organizational Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington 06032, USA.
