title: Cobra venom contains a pool of cysteine-rich secretory proteins.
abstract: A large family of cysteine-rich secretory proteins (CRISPs) includes proteins of different origin, the function of the majority of CRISPs being unknown. For CRISPs isolated from snake venom, two types of activities were found: two proteins blocked cyclic nucleotide-gated ion channels, several others blocked potassium-stimulated smooth muscle contraction. Thus, snake CRISPs represent potentially valuable tools for studies of ion channels, which makes promising a search for new CRISPs. Here we report on the isolation of several novel CRISPs from the venoms of Asian cobra Naja kaouthia and African cobra Naja haje using a combination of different types of liquid chromatography. Four CRISP variants were identified in N. kaouthia venom and three proteins, one of them acidic, were found in N. haje venom. Acidic CRISP was found in a reptilian venom for the first time. Our data suggest that each cobra venom contains a pool of different CRISPs.
authors.affiliation: Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16/10, Moscow 117997, Russia.
authors.forename: Alexey V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Osipov
authors.forename: Mikhail Yu
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Levashov
authors.forename: Victor I
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Tsetlin
authors.forename: Yuri N
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Utkin
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003058:Cockroaches; D003545:Cysteine / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000633:toxicity; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004546:Elapid Venoms / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D006135:Gryllidae; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D012471:Salivary Proteins and Peptides / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity; D017385:Sequence Homology; D016019:Survival Analysis
chemical_list: D004546:Elapid Venoms; D012471:Salivary Proteins and Peptides; D003545:Cysteine