title: Low molecular weight components from black widow spider venom.
abstract: Highly purified alpha-latrotoxin from the black widow spider venom (alpha-LTX) consists of two polypeptides with mol. wts of 130,000 and 8000 (LMWP). We have isolated two low mol. wt proteins LMWP and LMWP2 from the low mol. wt fraction of this venom. The chemical properties of these proteins and partial amino acid sequence of novel protein LMWP2 were studied. By means of i.v. or intracerebroventricular injections into mice it was shown that low mol. wt components of the venom at concentrations of 2.3 mg/kg and 0.8 mg/kg, respectively, did not possess any direct toxic effect on vertebrates. Injections of each protein into the third thoracic segment of cockroaches Periplaneta americana (doses up to 80 micrograms/g) did not cause lethality or paralysis of insects.
authors.affiliation: Shemyakin and Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow.
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Volkova
authors.forename: K A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Pluzhnikov
authors.forename: P G
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Woll
authors.forename: E V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Grishin
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D006868:Hydrolysis; D015151:Immunoblotting; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D010526:Periplaneta; D013111:Spider Venoms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D013111:Spider Venoms; C020763:alpha-latrotoxin