CSTX-13, a highly synergistically acting two-chain neurotoxic enhancer in the venom of the spider Cupiennius salei (Ctenidae)

The survival of the spider Cupiennius salei depends on its hunting success, which largely relies on its immediately paralyzing multicomponent venom. Here, we report on the isolation and characterization of CSTX-13, a neurotoxic enhancer in the spider venom. De novo elucidation of the disulfide bridg...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2004-08, Vol.101 (31), p.11251-11256
Main Authors: Wullschleger, B, Kuhn-Nentwig, L, Tromp, J, Kampfer, U, Schaller, J, Schurch, S, Nentwig, W
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Amino Acid Sequence
Amino acids
Animals
Bioassay
Biochemistry
Biological Sciences
Ctenidae
Cupiennius salei
Disulfides
Drosophila melanogaster - drug effects
Drug Synergism
Histamines
Lethal dose 50
Molecular Sequence Data
Mortality
Neurotoxins
Paralysis
Spider Venoms - chemistry
Spider Venoms - isolation & purification
Spider Venoms - toxicity
Spiders
Spiders - chemistry
Toxicity
Toxins
Venoms
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Summary:The survival of the spider Cupiennius salei depends on its hunting success, which largely relies on its immediately paralyzing multicomponent venom. Here, we report on the isolation and characterization of CSTX-13, a neurotoxic enhancer in the spider venom. De novo elucidation of the disulfide bridge pattern of CSTX-13 and the neurotoxin CSTX-1 by tandem MS revealed an identical arrangement. However, in contrast to CSTX-1, CSTX-13 is a two-chain peptide with two interchain and two intrachain disulfide bridges. Furthermore, the insecticidal activity of CSTX-13 is synergistically increased in the presence of K+ions as well as of the cytolytic peptide cupiennin 1a. We demonstrated that the weakly neurotoxic CSTX-13 enhances the paralytic activity of the neurotoxin CSTX-1 by 65% when it is administered with the latter at its entirely nontoxic physiological concentration, which is 440 times below its LD50concentration.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0402226101