title: Characterization of two different peptides from the venom of the scorpion Buthus sindicus.
abstract: Two disulfide-rich, low-molecular mass peptides (approximately 3 kDa and approximately 4 kDa) have been isolated from Buthus sindicus venom using ion-exchange and reverse-phase HPLC. Peptide I has 35 residues with 8 half-cystine residues and is clearly related to four-disulfide core proteins of the neurophysin type and to toxins of other scorpion species (55-63% residue identity). Peptide II, present in low yield, has 28 residues with 6 half-cystine residues and a structure largely dissimilar from that of peptide I and other characterized toxins, although probably still a member of the disulfide core peptide type. Consequently, scorpion venom contains, in addition to toxins characterized before, toxin-like compounds with distant relationships.
authors.affiliation: HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, University of Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fazal
authors.forename: O U
authors.initials: OU
authors.lastname: Beg
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shafqat
authors.forename: Z H
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Zaidi
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jörnvall
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000032:analysis; D012604:Scorpion Venoms / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D010446:Peptide Fragments; D012604:Scorpion Venoms