Photochemically induced nuclear polarization study of exposed tyrosines, tryptophans, and histidines in postsynaptic neurotoxins and in membranotoxins of elapid and hydrophid snake venoms.

The accessibility of surface tyrosines, histidines, and tryptophans in snake venom neurotoxins (short and long) and in membranotoxins to excited triplet 10-(carboxyethyl)-flavin was studied by photochemically induced dynamic nuclear polarization at 270 MHz. Trp-29 is accessible in the short neurotoxins--erabutoxins a, b, and c and cobrotoxin--and also in the long neurotoxins--alpha-cobratoxin and alpha-bungarotoxin. Tyr-25 is practically inaccessible in all neurotoxins. Tyr-39 in cobrotoxin and Tyr-55 in alpha-bungarotoxin are accessible. His-6 (revised sequence) is inaccessible in the erabutoxins while His-26 is only very weakly accessible. His-22 of alpha-cobratoxin is inaccessible as are His-4 and -68 in alpha-bungarotoxin and His-4 of cobrotoxin. His-33 of cobrotoxin is accessible. The rigidity order alpha-bungarotoxin greater than or equal to alpha-cobratoxin greater than or equal to erabutoxins, with respect to the unfolding effect of 7 M urea, was deduced in this study. In the membranotoxins studied (cardiotoxin and its analogues I, II, and IV as well as cytotoxin I and II), the two tyrosines Tyr-25 and Tyr-58 are only weakly accessible. Tyr-14 is completely accessible and so is in all probability Tyr-29. These studies allow deductions to be made about the accessibilities in analogous systems. Thus, the accessibility of His-33 and the inaccessibility of His-4 in cobrotoxin can be used to deduce the conformations of these residues in a large group of neurotoxins including the alpha-toxin of Naja nigricollis, neurotoxin II of Naja naja oxiana, and neurotoxins I and III of Naja mossambica mossambica.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)