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J. Biochem, 1997, Vol. 121, No. 4 690-695
© 1997 Japanese Biochemical Society

research-article

Amino Acid Sequence and Chemical Modification of a Novel {alpha}-Neurotoxin (Oh-5) from King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) Venom1

Shinne-Ren Lin*, Lei-Fen Leu{dagger}, Long-Sen Chang{dagger} and Chun-Chang Chang{dagger},2

*School of Chemistry
{dagger}Department of Biochemistry, Kaohsiung Medical College Kaohsiung, Taiwan 807

2To whom correspondence should be addressed. Fax: +886-7-3218309.

A novel {alpha}-neurotoxin, Oh-5, was isolated from king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) venom and purified by successive SP-Sephadex C-25 column chromatography and reversed-phase HPLC. The complete sequence of Oh-5 was determined by Edman degradation of peptide fragments generated by endopeptidases, i.e., trypsin, Saccharomyces aureus V+ protease and lysyl endopeptidase. This novel toxin comprises 72 amino acid residues with 10 cysteines. The sequence shows 89% sequence homology with Oh-4, and 60% with Toxins a and b from the same venom. The tyrosine, tryptophan, lysine and arginine residues in Oh-5 were modified with tetranitromethane (TNM), 2-nitrophenylsulfenyl (NPS) chloride, trinitrobenzene sulfonate (TNBS), and p-hydroxyphenylglyoxal (HPG), respectively. Modification of Tyr-4 or Trp-27 did not affect the lethal toxicity at all, while the Tyr-4 and 23 nitrated derivative retained about 50% of the lethality of native toxin. Selective trinitrophenylation of Lys-51 or 69 resulted in a decrease in lethality by 29%, and 50% lethality was retained after modification of Lys-2, 51, and 69. A drastic decrease in lethality to 26% was observed when both Arg-35 and 37 were modified. The neurotoxicity was further decreased when Arg-9 was additionally modified. These results suggest that the aromatic residues, Tyr-4 and Trp-27, are not crucial for the neurotoxicity, whereas the cationic residues are involved in multipoint contact between the toxin molecule and the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR). The residues Tyr-23 and Arg-35 and 37 in the central loop of Oh-5 seem to contribute greatly to the neurotoxicity.

1This work was supported by grant NSC85-2331-B037-063 from the National Science Council, ROC.


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