Role of the disulfide bond on the structure and activity of μ-conotoxin PIIIA in the inhibition of Na1.4.

μ-Conotoxin PIIIA, a peptide toxin isolated from , blocks the skeletal muscle voltage-gated sodium channel Na1.4 with significant potency. PIIIA has three disulfide bonds, which contribute largely to its highly constrained and stable structure. In this study, a combination of experimental studies and computational modeling were performed to assess the effects of deletion of the disulfide bonds on the structure and activity of PIIIA. The final results indicate that the three disulfide bonds of PIIIA are required to produce the effective inhibition of Na1.4, and the removal of any one of the disulfide bonds significantly reduces its binding affinity owing to secondary structure variation, among which the Cys11-Cys22 is the most important for sustaining the structure and activity of PIIIA.