Strand, Malin
- SLU Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Polypeptides from animal venoms have found important uses as drugs, pharmacological tools, and within biotechnological and agricultural applications. We here report a novel family of cystine knot peptides from nemertean worms, with potent activity on voltage-gated sodium channels. These toxins, named the alpha-nemertides, were discovered in the epidermal mucus of Lineus longissimus, the 'bootlace worm' known as the longest animal on earth. The most abundant peptide, the 31-residue long alpha-1, was isolated, synthesized, and its 3D NMR structure determined. Transcriptome analysis including 17 species revealed eight alpha-nemertides, mainly distributed in the genus Lineus. alpha-1 caused paralysis and death in green crabs (Carcinus maenas) at 1 mu g/kg (similar to 300 pmol/kg). It showed profound effect on invertebrate voltage-gated sodium channels (e.g. Blattella germanica Na(v)1) at low nanomolar concentrations. Strong selectivity for insect over human sodium channels indicates that a-nemertides can be promising candidates for development of bioinsecticidal agents.
Published in
Scientific Reports
2018, volume: 8, article number: 4596
Publisher: NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Pharmacology and Toxicology
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-22305-w
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/94714