title: Unique gene organization of colubrid three-finger toxins: complete cDNA and gene sequences of denmotoxin, a bird-specific toxin from colubrid snake Boiga dendrophila (Mangrove Catsnake).
abstract: Denmotoxin is a colubrid three-finger toxin isolated from the venom of Boiga dendrophila, which exhibits bird-specific neurotoxicity. We have sequenced the full-length cDNA and the gene encoding the precursor of denmotoxin. This is the first glimpse of genomic organization of a colubrid three-finger toxin. Denmotoxin cDNA shows low similarity to elapid three-finger toxins, except for the conserved signal peptide region. The open reading frame of denmotoxin possesses an additional fragment encoding a part of the putative signal peptide followed by an extra long N-terminus. The exon/intron organization of denmotoxin is also different from elapid three-finger toxin genes. The denmotoxin gene contains four exons and three introns, while elapid genes share virtually identical gene organization consisting of three exons and two introns. It appears that Elapidae snakes have lost the extra second exon after the divergence of the snake families.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore117543, Singapore.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pawlak
authors.forename: R Manjunatha
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Kini
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry; D005091:Exons; D007438:Introns; D045170:Matrix Attachment Regions; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals / Q000235:genetics; D020537:RNA, Small Nucleolar / Q000737:chemistry; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012910:Snake Venoms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D021382:Protein Sorting Signals; D020537:RNA, Small Nucleolar; D012910:Snake Venoms; C514897:denmotoxin, Boiga dendrophila