The Study on Proteinaceous Toxins from the Cnidarians.

从2003年至2005年的财政年度，我们主要研究了冲绳海洋有毒动物的蛋白质毒素的分离和化学性质。在这些研究中，我们发现箱水母Chiropsalmus quadrigatus（日本habukurage）具有几种蛋白质毒素，其作用方式彼此不同。这一结果表明，四脊金龟子螫刺综合征是由多种症状组成的。冲绳海葵Actineria villosa会导致严重的刺痛。然而，该物种的毒刺的致病毒素还不清楚。随后，我们分离出蛋白质毒素，命名为A.viliosa toxin 60 A（AvTX-60 A，约60 kDa）作为主要毒素。对编码AvTX-60 A的cDNA进行测序。AvTX-60 A的氨基酸序列分析表明其具有MACPF结构域。从有毒的火珊瑚千孔珊瑚中成功分离出溶血性蛋白质毒素。该毒素具有酸性等电点，分子量约为100 kDa。这是第一次报道的情况下，分离的高分子量（100 kDa）的蛋白质毒素作为其活性形式从刺胞动物。

From the fiscal year 2003 to 2005, we have mainly studied on the isolation and chemical characterization of proteinaceous toxins obtained from Okinawan marine venomous animals. During these studies, we have found out the box jellyfish Chiropsalmus quadrigatus (habukurage in Japanese) has several proteinaceous toxins of which mode of action differs to each other. This result suggests that the stinging syndrome by C.quadrigatus is composed of multiple symptoms. The Okinawan sea anemone Actineria villosa causes severe cases of stinging. However, the causative toxins of the stinging by this species have not yet been known. Subsequently, we isolated the proteinaceous toxin which designated as A.viliosa toxin 60A (AvTX-60A, ca.60 kDa) as the major toxin. The cDNA encoding AvTX-60A was sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence of AvTX-60A showed the MACPF domain. The hemolytic proteinaceous toxin has been successfully isolated from the venomous fire coral, Millepora sp. This toxin had an acidic isoelectric point and the molecular weight of around 100 kDa. This is the first reported case of the isolation of a high molecular weight (100 kDa) protein toxin as its active form from cnidarians.