title: Bitis arietans nerve growth factor is a disulphide-linked homodimer.
abstract: 1. Nerve growth factor from Bitis arietans venom was isolated in high yield and purified to homogeneity using a rapid two-step procedure involving gel exclusion chromatography and reversed-phase HPLC. 2. On polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in SDS, the NGF migrates as a 25 kDa homodimer and is thus atypical of other Viperid NGFs. 3. Evidence suggests that, unlike mammalian beta NGFs, the subunits of the Bitis arietans homodimer are covalently linked by a disulphide bond(s). 4. Partial sequence analysis shows that only 6 out of the first 21 amino acids are identical with those of cobra NGF including cys-14 and val-21 which are known to be important for NGF activity.
authors: FRD/UCT Research Centre for Molecular Biology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Republic of South Africa.
authors: P J
authors: PJ
authors: Smith
authors: W F
authors: WF
authors: Brandt
authors: B J
authors: BJ
authors: Stickells
authors: C
authors: C
authors: von Holt
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000032:analysis; D001704:Biopolymers; D004220:Disulfides / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014757:Viper Venoms / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D001704:Biopolymers; D004220:Disulfides; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors; D014757:Viper Venoms