UNLABELLED The scorpion Mesobuthus martensii is the most populous species in eastern Asian countries, and several toxic components have been identified from their venoms. Nevertheless, a complete proteomic profile of the venom of M. martensii is still not available. In this study, the venom of M. martensii was analyzed by comprehensive proteomic approaches. 153 fractions were isolated from the ...

We report structural model of the human voltage-gated potassium ion channel Kv1.3 obtained based on the crystallographic structure of KcsA by homology modeling. Molecular docking simulations were performed between the model structure of Kv1.3 channel with three short-chain four disulphide bridged scorpion toxins HsTX1 from the venom of Heterometrus spinnifer (Scorpionidae), maurotoxin (MTX) fro...

9C2 is a murine monoclonal IgG that participates in the neutralization of Androctonus australis hector scorpion venom. It recognizes AahI and AahIII, two of the three main neurotoxins responsible for almost all the toxicity of the venom when injected into mammals. Using PCR we cloned the antibody variable region coding genes from 9C2 hybridoma cells and constructed a gene encoding a single-chai...

The yellow Iranian scorpion Odontobuthus doriae can cause fatal envenoming, but its mechanism of action is unclear. One of the reported manifestations of envenoming is moderate to severe involuntary tremor of skeletal muscle. In order to understand better the mechanism of action of this venom on skeletal muscle function, we examined the effects of the venom in vitro on chick biventer cervicis (...

BACKGROUND Scorpion venom glands produce some antimicrobial peptides (AMP) that can rapidly kill a broad range of microbes and have additional activities that impact on the quality and effectiveness of innate responses and inflammation. OBJECTIVES In this study, we reported the identification of a cDNA sequence encoding cysteine-free antimicrobial peptides isolated from venomous glands of thi...

The ICK (inhibitor cystine knot) defines a large superfamily of polypeptides with high structural stability and functional diversity. Here, we describe a new scorpion venom-derived K+ channel toxin (named λ-MeuKTx-1) with an ICK fold through gene cloning, chemical synthesis, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Ca2+ release measurements and electrophysiological recordings. λ-MeuKTx-1 was fo...

objectives in this study, we reported the identification of a cdna sequence encoding cysteine-free antimicrobial peptides isolated from venomous glands of this species. materials and methods total rna was extracted from the iranian mesobuthus eupeus venom glands, and cdna was synthesized by using the modified oligo (dt). the cdna was used as the template for applying semi-nested rt- pcr techniq...

A peptide toxin isolated from the Chinese scorpion Buthus martensi Karsch (BmK-PL) stimulated Ca2+-release channel activity in both triad membranes and reconstituted ryanodine receptors partially purified from rabbit skeletal muscle. In [3H]ryanodine binding experiments, the toxin increased the affinity of ryanodine for the receptor, from a Kd of 24.3 nM to 2.9 nM, which is an enhancement simil...

Activation of voltage-gated sodium (Na(v)) channels initiates and propagates action potentials in electrically excitable cells. β-Scorpion toxins, including toxin IV from Centruroides suffusus suffusus (CssIV), enhance activation of Na(V) channels. CssIV stabilizes the voltage sensor in domain II in its activated state via a voltage-sensor trapping mechanism. Amino acid residues required for th...