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Título del libro: Handbook Of Biologically Active Peptides
Título del capítulo: Scorpion Venom Peptides

Autores UNAM:
LOURIVAL DOMINGOS POSSANI POSTAY;
Autores externos:

Idioma:
Inglés
Año de publicación:
2006
Resumen:

Scorpion venoms possess several types of peptides. Scorpion venoms are complex mixtures of components, where the peptides and proteins play a fundamental role, providing the animals with the tools to defend themselves from predators or subdue their prey. Most of the scorpion venom peptides are composed of 20-75 amino acid residues, whereas the few known proteins (enzymes) are over 120-370 residues. Proteomic analyses show that single scorpion venoms might contain more than 100 peptidic components. The neurotoxicity caused by scorpion stings (whole venom) can be reproduced in experimental animals or by in vitro assays, using homogeneous or partially purified components of the venom. These peptides can also be translated as pre-peptides, with a characteristic low complexity signal peptides, followed by a highly variable mature region. Most of the scorpion venom peptides are encoded by a single class of precursor, characterized by a conserved architecture including a single intron within the region encoding the signal peptide. This topological conservation suggests that all scorpion toxins should be genetically related by duplication and divergence events, constituting a multigene family. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


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