title: Properties and amino acid sequence of huwentoxin-I, a neurotoxin purified from the venom of the Chinese bird spider Selenocosmia huwena.
abstract: By means of reverse phase and ion-exchange high performance liquid chromatography, a neurotoxic peptide named huwentoxin-I was purified from the venom of the Chinese bird spider Selenocosmia huwena. The intraperitoneal and intracisternal LD50 in mice of the toxin were 0.70 mg/kg and 9.40 micrograms/kg, respectively. This toxin at the concentration of 1 x 10(-5) g/ml can irreversibly block the neuromuscular transmission of the isolated mouse phrenic nerve-diaphragm preparation in 13.4 +/- 1.3 min (mean +/- S.D., n = 5). The isoelectric point is 8.95 determined by isoelectric focusing electrophoresis. It consists of 33 amino acids including 6 Cys and 6 Lys determined by amino acid analysis. The complete amino sequence of huwentoxin-I was determined. The N-terminal and C-terminal residues were Ala and Leu, respectively. The primary structure showed partial homology with that of mu-agatoxins from the funnel-web spider Agelenopsis aperta.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, P.R. China.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: D Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000506:poisoning; D030162:Reptilian Proteins; D013111:Spider Venoms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000506:poisoning; D013112:Spiders
chemical_list: D009498:Neurotoxins; D030162:Reptilian Proteins; D013111:Spider Venoms; C083624:huwentoxin I