title: Genomic organization and cloning of novel genes encoding toxin-like peptides of three superfamilies from the spider Orinithoctonus huwena.
abstract: The bird spider Ornithoctonus huwena is one of the most venomous spiders in China. Its venom is a mixture of various compounds with diverse bioactivities. Ninety proteins and 47 peptides have been identified, and 67 cDNA sequences encoding different toxin precursors have been cloned. However, the genomic DNA of them is seldom reported. To characterize the genomic DNA structure of huwentoxins, the genomic DNA encoding toxins of three superfamilies were cloned by using sequence specific or partially degenerate primers based on their cDNA sequences. An unexpected finding was that the intron was lacking in the genomic sequences of three superfamilies. The genomic DNA information has predictive value for better understanding the relationship of spider toxin evolution. In addition, we have cloned and analyzed 19 novel genes encoding toxin-like precursors by using the genomic DNA of the spider O. huwena.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Protein Chemistry and Developmental Biology of the Ministry of Education, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Jinjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Yongqun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Songping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010455:Peptides / Q000235:genetics* / Q000633:toxicity; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013111:Spider Venoms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity; D013112:Spiders / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D013111:Spider Venoms