Department of Chemistry, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54890, Pakistan.
H.E. J. Research Institute of Chemistry, (ICCBS), University of Karachi, Karachi 75270, Pakistan.
Toxins (Basel). 2018 Nov 14;10(11):474. doi: 10.3390/toxins10110474.
Nature endowed snakes with a lethal secretion known as venom, which has been fine-tuned over millions of years of evolution. Snakes utilize venom to subdue their prey and to survive in their natural habitat. Venom is known to be a very poisonous mixture, consisting of a variety of molecules, such as carbohydrates, nucleosides, amino acids, lipids, proteins and peptides. Proteins and peptides are the major constituents of the dry weight of snake venoms and are of main interest for scientific investigations as well as for various pharmacological applications. Snake venoms contain enzymatic and non-enzymatic proteins and peptides, which are grouped into different families based on their structure and function. Members of a single family display significant similarities in their primary, secondary and tertiary structures, but in many cases have distinct pharmacological functions and different bioactivities. The functional specificity of peptides belonging to the same family can be attributed to subtle variations in their amino acid sequences. Currently, complementary tools and techniques are utilized to isolate and characterize the peptides, and study their potential applications as molecular probes, and possible templates for drug discovery and design investigations.
大自然赋予蛇一种致命的分泌物，称为毒液，这种毒液经过数百万年的进化已经得到了精细的调整。蛇利用毒液来制服猎物，并在其自然栖息地中生存。毒液是一种非常有毒的混合物，由多种分子组成，如碳水化合物、核苷、氨基酸、脂质、蛋白质和肽。蛋白质和肽是蛇毒干重的主要成分，是科学研究以及各种药理学应用的主要关注点。蛇毒液含有酶和非酶蛋白质和肽，根据其结构和功能分为不同的家族。同一家族的成员在其一级、二级和三级结构上显示出显著的相似性，但在许多情况下具有不同的药理学功能和不同的生物活性。属于同一家族的肽的功能特异性可以归因于其氨基酸序列的细微变化。目前，互补的工具和技术被用来分离和表征这些肽，并研究它们作为分子探针的潜在应用，以及作为药物发现和设计研究的可能模板。
