title: Cloning and sequence analysis of cDNAs encoding precursors of sarafotoxins. Evidence for an unusual "rosary-type" organization.
abstract: Sarafotoxins (SRTXs) are 21-amino acid peptides structurally and functionally similar to endothelins (ETs). To understand how SRTXs are overproduced in venom glands of the snakes Atractaspis engaddensis and hence used as toxins, we cloned cDNAs encoding SRTXs and elucidated their nucleotide sequences. We predict that SRTX precursors are large prepropolypeptide chains with an unusual "rosary-type" structure made of 12 successive similar stretches of 40 residues (39 in the first stretch). Each stretch begins with a "spacer" of 19 invariant residues (18 in the first stretch) immediately followed by the sequence of one SRTX isoform. Six different isoforms are identified within a single precursor molecule. Maturation of the precursor may require endopeptidases that cleave the Leu-Cys bond and the Trp-Arg/Lys bond invariably found at the SRTX N and C termini, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Département d'Ingenierie et d'Etudes des Protéines, C. E. Saclay, Gif sur Yvette, France.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ducancel
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Matre
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dupont
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lajeunesse
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wollberg
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bdolah
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kochva
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Boulain
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ménez
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D015723:Gene Library; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D016366:Open Reading Frames; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012627:Sebaceous Glands / Q000502:physiology; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012911:Snakes; D014757:Viper Venoms / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D011498:Protein Precursors; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014757:Viper Venoms; C057354:sarafotoxins s6; D004247:DNA