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Published in

Wiley, FEBS Letters, 3(499), p. 256-261, 2001

DOI: 10.1016/s0014-5793(01)02558-3

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Novel peptides from assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae): Isolation, chemical and biological characterization

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Three novel peptides were isolated from the venomous saliva of predatory reduviids. They were identified by mass spectrometry and HPLC analysis and consist of 34-36 amino acid residues. They are relatively homologous to the calcium channel blockers omega-conotoxins from marine cone snails and belong to the four-loop Cys scaffold structural class. Ptu1, the shortest peptide, was chemically synthesized (sPtu1) and co-eluted with its native form. Circular dichroism spectra of the sPtu1 showed a high content of beta-turns similar to that of omega-conotoxins GVIA and MVIIA. Electrophysiological experiments demonstrated that sPtu1 reversibly blocks the N-type calcium channels expressed in BHK cells.