Amplification and Molecular Identification of cDNA sequence coding for a peptide toxin from the venomous gland of the Khuzestan province scorpion Mesobuthus eupeus

Authors

1 Department of Animal Sciences, Faculty of Animal Science and Food Industry, Agricultur and Natural Resources University of Ramin Khuzestan, Khuzestan- Iran

2 Department of Basic Sciences, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Section, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Ahvaz- Iran

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The Mesobuthus eupeus scorpion venoms are known to contain α-toxin peptides, many of which interfere with K+ ion channel function. These toxin peptides have important value in  the pharmacology and physiology studies of specific K+ channel of cells. OBJECTIVES: Given the  lack of information of the molecular biology of peptides in the toxin of Iranian scorpions, the aim of this study is Amplification and Analyses of cDNA sequence coding for a peptide toxin from the venomous gland of the Khuzestan province scorpion Mesobuthus eupeus. METHODS: Total RNA was extracted from the venom glands of scorpion Mesobuthus eupeus collected from  Khuzestan province of Iran and then cDNA was synthesized with the modified oligo (dT) primer. By applying the Semi-nested RT-PCR using homologous primers, the fragments of 227 bp were amplified and sequenced. RESULTS: The full-length sequence of coding region was 174 bp which  contained an open reading frame of 57 amino acids with a predicted molecular mass of 6.434 KDa and theoretical pI of 5.12. It contains a signal peptide of 19, propeptide of 4 and a mature peptide of 34 amino acids. For comparison of this peptide with the similar sequences registered in NCBI database, BLAST program was used. This protein with homology to the “Scorpion toxin-like domain” belongs to the Toxin-6 super family. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple alignment of the putative amino acid sequence of this gene exhibited the highest sequence identity with lesser Asian scorpion M. eupeus venom potassium channel α-toxin-1. This high sequence similarity indicates that this gene is a member of α-toxin from the Iranian Mesobuthus eupeus.

Keywords

References

Benton, T. G. (1991) The life History of Euscorpius Flavicaudis (Scorpions, chacidae). J Arachnol. 19: 105-110
Farzan pie, R. (1987) Scorpion Identify. (1st ed.)  Center Publish University. Iran, Tehran.
Gwee, M.C., Nirthanan, S., Khoo, H.E., Gopalakrishnakone, P., Kini, R.M., Cheah, L.S. (2002)Autonomic effects of some scorpion venoms and toxins. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiology. 9: 795-801
Michael, E.S., Victor, F. (2003) High-level systematics and phylogeny of the extant scorpions (Scorpions: Orthosterni). Euscorpius. 11: 1-175.
Navidpour, Sh., Kovarik, F., Solegland, M.E.  Fet, V. (2008) Scorpions of  Iran (Arachnida, Scorpions). Part 1: khoozestan province. Euscorpius. 65: 1- 41.
Nielsen, H., Brunak, S., Heijne, G. (1999) Machine learning approaches for the prediction of signal peptides and other protein sorting signals. Protein Eng. 12: 3-9.
Nielsen, H., Engelbrecht, J., Brunak, S., Heijne, G. (1997) Identification of prokaryotic and eukaryotic signal peptides and prediction of their cleavage sites. Protein Eng. 10: 1-6.
Nikkhah, M., Naderi-Manesh, H., Taghdir, M., Talebzadeh, M., Sadeghi-Zadeh, M., Schaller, J., Sarbolouki, M. (2006) Cloning, Sequence Analysis and Molecular Modeling of a New Peptide from the Scorpion Buthotus saulcyi Venom. J Biochem Mol Biol. 39: 284-291.
Possani, L.D., Becerril, B., Delepierrer., Tytgat, J. (1999) Scorpion toxins specific for Na+ channels. Eur J Biochem. 264: 287-300.
Saucedo, A.L., Flores-Solis, D., Rodriguez, D.L. V., Hernandez-Lopez, R. (2012) Structural versatility of scorpion toxins with common cysteine spacing. J Biol Chem. 287: 12321-12330.
Steven, F.N., Jeffrey I.G. (1989) Eukaryotic signal peptide structure/ function relationships. J Biol Chem. 264: 3979-3987.
Wang, W.X., Wang, Y.P. Deng, X.J., Dang, X.L., Tian, J.H., Yi, H.Y., Li, Y.F. (2009) Molecular and functional characterization of a c-type lysozyme from the Asian corn born, ostriniafurnacalis. J Insect Sci. 9: 17
Yibao, M., Ruiming, Z., Yawen, H., Songryong, L., Jun, W. (2009) Transcriptome analysis of the venom gland of the scorpion Scorpiops jendeki: implication for the evolution of the scorpion venom arsenal. BMC Genomics. 10: 1-15
Zhu, S., Gao, B., Tytgat, J. (2005) Phylogenetic distribution, functional epitopes and evolution of the CSab superfamily. Cell Mol Life Sci. 62: 2257-69.
Journal of Veterinary Research
Volume 71, Issue 3 - Serial Number 3
September 2016
Pages 283-288

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics