Wudayagiri R, Inceoglu B, Herrmann R, Derbel M, Choudary P V, Hammock B D
Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
BMC Biochem. 2001;2:16. doi: 10.1186/1471-2091-2-16. Epub 2001 Dec 17.
Scorpion venom contains insect and mammal selective toxins. We investigated the venom of the South Indian red scorpion, Mesobuthus tamulus for the purpose of identifying potent insecticidal peptide toxins.
A lepidopteran-selective toxin (Buthus tamulus insect toxin; ButaIT) has been isolated from this venom. The primary structure analysis reveals that it is a single polypeptide composed of 37 amino acids cross-linked by four disulfide bridges with high sequence homology to other short toxins such as Peptide I, neurotoxin P2, Lqh-8/6, chlorotoxin, insectotoxin I5A, insect toxin 15 and insectotoxin I1. Three dimensional modeling using Swiss automated protein modeling server reveals that this toxin contains a short alpha-helix and three antiparallel beta-strands, similar to other short scorpion toxins. This toxin is selectively active on Heliothis virescens causing flaccid paralysis but was non-toxic to blowfly larvae and mice.
This is the first report of a Heliothine selective peptide toxin. Identification of diverse insect selective toxins offer advantages in employing these peptides selectively for pest control.
蝎毒含有对昆虫和哺乳动物有选择性的毒素。为了鉴定强效杀虫肽毒素，我们对印度南部红蝎（Mesobuthus tamulus）的毒液进行了研究。
从这种毒液中分离出了一种对鳞翅目有选择性的毒素（Buthus tamulus昆虫毒素；ButaIT）。一级结构分析表明，它是由37个氨基酸组成的单一多肽，通过四个二硫键交联，与其他短毒素如肽I、神经毒素P2、Lqh - 8/6、氯毒素、昆虫毒素I5A、昆虫毒素15和昆虫毒素I1具有高度序列同源性。使用瑞士自动蛋白质建模服务器进行的三维建模表明，这种毒素含有一个短的α - 螺旋和三条反平行的β - 链，与其他短蝎毒素相似。这种毒素对棉铃虫有选择性活性，可导致松弛性麻痹，但对家蝇幼虫和小鼠无毒。
这是关于一种对夜蛾科有选择性的肽毒素的首次报道。鉴定多种昆虫选择性毒素为选择性地利用这些肽进行害虫防治提供了优势。
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