title: Protein complexes in snake venom.
abstract: Snake venom contains mixture of bioactive proteins and polypeptides. Most of these proteins and polypeptides exist as monomers, but some of them form complexes in the venom. These complexes exhibit much higher levels of pharmacological activity compared to individual components and play an important role in pathophysiological effects during envenomation. They are formed through covalent and/or non-covalent interactions. The subunits of the complexes are either identical (homodimers) or dissimilar (heterodimers; in some cases subunits belong to different families of proteins). The formation of complexes, at times, eliminates the non-specific binding and enhances the binding to the target molecule. On several occasions, it also leads to recognition of new targets as protein-protein interaction in complexes exposes the critical amino acid residues buried in the monomers. Here, we describe the structure and function of various protein complexes of snake venoms and their role in snake venom toxicity.
authors.affiliation: Protein Science Laboratory, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260, Singapore. doley@tezu.ernet.in
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Doley
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Kini
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002038:Bungarotoxins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003439:Crotoxin / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019281:Dimerization; D019483:Disintegrins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D050830:L-Amino Acid Oxidase / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D045726:Metalloproteases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D054467:Phospholipases A2 / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011487:Protein Conformation; D021122:Protein Subunits / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012910:Snake Venoms / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D002038:Bungarotoxins; D019483:Disintegrins; D046912:Multiprotein Complexes; D021122:Protein Subunits; D012910:Snake Venoms; D003439:Crotoxin; D050830:L-Amino Acid Oxidase; D054467:Phospholipases A2; D045726:Metalloproteases