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Journal of Biochemistry Advance Access published online on December 23, 2008
Journal of Biochemistry, doi:10.1093/jb/mvn174
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© The authors 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Japanese Biochemical Society. All rights reserved.

Structural divergence of cysteine-rich secretory proteins in snake venoms

Yukiko Matsunaga1, Yasuo Yamazaki1, Fumiko Hyodo1, Yusuke Sugiyama1, Masatoshi Nozaki2 and Takashi Morita1,*

1 Department of Biochemistry, Meiji Pharmaceutical University, 2-522-1 Noshio, Kiyose, Tokyo 204-8588, Japan; and 2 Okinawa Prefectural Institute of Health and Environment, 2003 Ozato, Ozato, Nanjo, Okinawa 901-1202, Japan

*To whom correspondence should be addressed: Takashi Morita Department of Biochemistry, Meiji Pharmaceutical University, 2-522-1 Noshio, Kiyose, Tokyo 204-8588 Japan; Tel/Fax: +81-42-495-8496; E-mail address: tmorita{at}my-pharm.ac.jp

Received October 31, 2008; Accepted December 9, 2008


  Abstract

CRISPs are expressed in spermatocytes and granules of neutrophils in mammals, and are associated with sperm maturation and host defense. Related proteins have recently been recovered in snake venoms, and some of the snake venom-derived CRISPs exhibit ion channel blocking activity. Here we isolated and identifed two novel CRISPs (kaouthin-1 and kaouthin-2) from the venom of Naja kaouthia (Elapidae), and cloned the encoding cDNAs. Kaouthin-1 and kaouthin-2 were classified into two broad sister groups of Elapidae, the Asian species and the marine/Australian species, respectively. Sequence comparisons reveal that the high-frequency variable regions among snake venom CRISPs define a continuous line on the molecular surface of the N-terminal pathogenesis-related protein-1 (PR-1) domain and the C-terminal cysteine-rich domain (CRD). Snake venom proteins generally display efficient molecular diversity around functionally key regions, suggesting that the PR-1 domain of CRISPs is important for the recognition of target molecules.

Key Words: CRISP, Naja kaouthia, pathogenesis-related protein, cysteine-rich domain, ion channel


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