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Professor Chen-Yuan Lee was born in Tainan, Taiwan. In 1940, he joined the staff of the Institute of Pharmacology of the university, now named National Taiwan University. Dr Lee began a study of Daboia russelli formosensis venom under the direction of Professor Tsungming Tu who, in the 1930s, initiated the pharmacological studies of Formosan snake venoms carried out at the Institute. Under Professor...
Symptoms of envenomation by the New-Guinean small-eyed snake Micropechis ikaheka (Elapidae) include peripheral neurotoxicity and myotoxicity. We have now purified to homogeneity a long-chain neurotoxin, mikatoxin, from M. ikaheka venom by successive gel filtration and reverse-phase chromatography. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry showed mikatoxin to be a homogenous peptide of MW 7775.6. Mikatoxin...
Two phospholipase A2 (PLA2) genes classified into group IA were cloned from the genomic library of the sea snake Laticauda semifasciata. Eight clones were obtained by PCR cloning procedure from genomic DNA of Laticauda laticaudata (four clones) and Laticauda colubrina (four clones). The genes were 3.6–4.4kbp in length. Intron and exon organization of the group IA PLA2 genes was the same as that of...
Lys49 phospholipase A 2 homologues constitute a group of catalytically-inactive proteins, present in the venoms of many crotalid snakes, which induce myonecrosis. Current evidence supports the mapping of their toxic site to the C-terminal region, where amino acids comprised within the sequence 115-129 appear to play a central role in toxicity. This study evaluated the possible toxic effects...
Bothrops snake venoms produce marked local effects, including oedema, haemorrhage and necrosis. The ability of Bothrops insularis venom to induce oedema in mice was investigated. Venom was injected into hind paws and the change in volume over time was measured by plethysmometry. B. insularis venom (0.01–2.5 μg/paw) induced paw oedema which, at high doses (≥0.5 μg/paw), was accompanied by haemorrhage...
Antibacterial, antiparasitidal and antiviral properties have recently been attributed to members of the secreted phospholipases A 2 (sPLA 2 s) superfamily. Seven sPLA 2 s from groups IA, IB, IIA and III, were tested here in different culture conditions for inhibition of the in vitro intraerythrocytic development of Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of the most severe...
An Asp49 PLA 2 (ACL-I PLA 2 ) was purified from the venom of Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus by gel filtration and cation-exchange chromatography. It has a relative molecular mass of 14,000, and its N-terminal sequence has more than 65% of identity with other snake venom PLA 2 s. ACL-I PLA 2 injected into the Tibialis anterior muscle of rats and mice at doses of...
A new myotoxin was isolated from the venom of Bothrops atrox from Colombia. B. atrox myotoxin I is a homodimer, with a subunit molecular mass of 13,826, and a pI of 8.9. Its complete nucleotide sequence was obtained by cDNA cloning, indicating a mature product of 122 residues that belongs to the family of Lys49 phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) homologues, a subgroup of catalytically inactive...
The brown-headed snake (Glyphodon tristis) inhabits the forest regions of Papua New Guinea, Torres Strait Islands, and far northern Queensland, Australia. Although bites by Glyphodon dunmalli have been reported, G. tristis was regarded as innocuous until 1989 when a healthy 20 year old man was bitten (Sutherland, S.K., Tibballs, J., 2001. Australian Animal Toxins, the Creatures, their Toxins and Care...
Recent work demonstrated that crotoxin, the main toxin of Crotalus durissus terrificus venom, inhibits macrophage spreading and phagocytic activities. The crotoxin molecule is composed of two subunits, an acidic non-toxic and non-enzymatic polypeptide named crotapotin and a weakly toxic basic phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ). In the present work, the active subunit responsible for the inhibitory...
A short peptide derived from the C-terminal region of Bothrops asper myotoxin II, a Lys49 phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ), was previously found to reproduce the bactericidal activity of its parent molecule. In this study, a panel of eight PLA 2 myotoxins purified from crotalid snake venoms, including both Lys49 and Asp49-type isoforms, were all found to express bactericidal activity,...
Phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) enzymes from snake venom are toxic and induce a wide spectrum of pharmacological effects, despite similarity in primary, secondary and tertiary structures and common catalytic properties. Thus, the structure–function relationships and the mechanism of this group of small proteins are subtle, complex and intriguing challenges. This review, taking the PLA ...
Trimeresurus flavoviridis snakes inhabit the southwestern islands of Japan: Amami-Oshima, Tokunoshima and Okinawa. A phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) of basic nature (pI 8.5) was isolated from the venom of Amami-Oshima T. flavoviridis. Its amino acid sequence determined by the ordinary procedures was completely in accord with that predicted from the nucleotide sequence of the cDNA previously...
Lys49 phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) homologues are myotoxic proteins devoid of catalytic activity. Their toxic determinants map to the C-terminal region 115–129, which plays an effector role in membrane damage. The dimeric state was reported to be essential for a Lys49 PLA 2 which lost its liposome-disrupting activity after dissociating into monomers at pH 5.0. This study, evaluated...
Bothrops jararacussu myotoxin I (BthTx-I; Lys 49) and II (BthTX-II; Asp 49) were purified by ion-exchange chromatography and reverse phase HPLC. In this work we used the isolated perfused rat kidney method to evaluate the renal effects of B. jararacussu myotoxins I (Lys49 PLA 2 ) and II (Asp49 PLA 2 ) and their possible blockage by indomethacin. BthTX-I (5μg/ml) and BthTX-II (5μg/ml)...
We have previously demonstrated that rabbit antisera raised against crotoxin from Crotalus durissus cascavella venom (cdc-crotoxin) and its PLA 2 (cdc-PLA 2 ) neutralized the neurotoxicity of this venom and its crotoxin. In this study, we examined the ability of these antisera to neutralize the neurotoxicity of Crotalus durissus terrificus and Bothrops jararacussu venoms and their...
We have isolated a new phospholipase A 2 (MiDCA1) from the venom of the coral snake Micrurus dumerilii carinicauda. This toxin, which had a molecular mass of 15,552Da, shared high sequence homology with the PLA 2 toxins MICNI A and B from Micrurus nigrocinctus venom (77.7% and 73.1%, respectively). In chick biventer cervicis preparations, MiDCA1 produced concentration- and time-dependent...
This is the first PLA 2 crystal structure from group I that shows a strong anticoagulant property. The monomeric PLA 2 was purified from the venom of Naja naja sagittifera (Indian cobra). Its amino acid sequence has been determined using cDNA technique. The amino acid sequence of sPLA 2 contains three positively charged and two negatively charged residues in the segment 54–71...
Green pit viper (Trimeresurus albolabris) is the most common venomous snake responsible for bites in Bangkok. It causes local edema and systemic hypofibrinogenemia resulted from the thrombin-like, as well as the fibrinolytic effects of the venom. However, the amino acid sequences of these venom proteins have never been reported. In this study, we have cloned five novel serine proteases from the Thai...
Crotalus durissus terrificus snake venom and its major toxin, crotoxin or type II PLA 2 subunit of this toxin, induce an inhibitory effect on spreading and phagocytosis in 2h incubated macrophages. The involvement of arachidonate-derived mediators on the inhibitory action of the venom or toxins on rat peritoneal macrophage phagocytosis was presently investigated. Peritoneal cells harvested...
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