Interactions of Sea Anemone Toxins with Insect Sodium Channel-Insights from Electrophysiology and Molecular Docking Studies.

ABSTRACT: Animal venoms are considered as a promising source of new drugs. Sea anemones release polypeptides that affect electrical activity of neurons of their prey. Voltage dependent sodium (Nav) channels are the common targets of Av1, Av2, and Av3 toxins from Anemonia viridis and CgNa from Condylactis gigantea. The toxins bind to the extracellular side of a channel and slow its fast inactivation, but molecular details of the binding modes are not known. Electrophysiological measurements on Periplaneta americana neuronal preparation revealed differences in potency of these toxins to increase nerve activity. Av1 and CgNa exhibit the strongest effects, while Av2 the weakest effect. Extensive molecular docking using a modern SMINA computer method revealed only partial overlap amo

SUBMITTER: Niklas B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7957711 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature