STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF SCORPION VENOM VAEJOVIS MEXICANUS SMITHI

这个子项目是许多利用资源的研究子项目之一 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目的主要支持 而子项目的主要调查员可能是由其他来源提供的， 包括其它NIH来源。 列出的子项目总成本可能 代表子项目使用的中心基础设施的估计数量， 而不是由NCRR赠款提供给子项目或子项目工作人员的直接资金。 对毒液的研究主要集中在对与人体毒性作用直接相关的成分的认识上，但许多成分与人体毒性作用直接相关，而且许多成分具有广谱的生物活性。 除了医学原因之外，研究毒液的组成对于发现用于分析神经系统和细胞膜的操作机制的新生化工具具有很大的兴趣。 据报道，蝎毒含有多种生物活性成分：酶、肽、核苷酸、脂类、生物胺和其他未知物质。 蝎毒是具有多种药理作用的多肽的丰富来源。 已知的药理活性包括抗微生物、抗癫痫、杀虫剂、磷脂酶和毒素。 这种蝎子原产于墨西哥的莫雷洛斯州。 这个物种以前没有被深入研究过。 初步研究表明，其毒液中存在复杂的成分混合物，这使其成为寻找新的生物活性成分的有趣研究目标。 通过RP-HPLC对粗毒液进行分级，并收集约85个级分。 对每个级分进行MALDI-TOF质谱分析。 不同的通道阻断肽的近似大小先前已被报道。 选择含有这种分子量的组分的级分用于进一步研究。 由于混合物的复杂性和感兴趣的肽的大小，可以利用Edman测序以及LC/MS、CID和ECD来破译毒素组分的氨基酸序列。 ECD分析和选择性N-末端标记的组合可以帮助大肽的从头测序。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. The investigation of venoms is focused on the knowledge of the components directly related to the toxic effects for humans, but many components directly related to the toxic effects for humans, but many components have a broad spectrum of biological activities. This, in addition to the medical reasons, the study of the composition of the venom has a great interest for the discovery of new biochemical tools for the analysis of the operational mechanisms of the nervous system and cellular membranes. It has been reported that scorpion venom contains a variety of biologically active components: enzymes, peptides, nucleotides, lipids, biogenic amines and other unknown substances. Scorpion venoms are rich sources of peptides with a variety of pharmacological functions. Known pharmacological activities include antimicrobial, anti-epilepsy, insecticide, phospholipase and toxins. The scorpion Vaejovis mexicanus smithi is native from the state of Morelos, Mexico. This species has not been studied in depth previously. Preliminary studies have shown a complex mixture of components present in its venom, which makes it an interesting target of study for the search of new bioactive components. Crude venom was fractionated by RP-HPLC, and around 85 fractions were collected. Each fraction was subjected to MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The approximate size of different cannel-blocking peptides has been previously reported. Fractions containing components of such molecular masses were selected for further studies. Due to the complexity of the mixture and the size of the peptides of interest, Edman sequencing as well as LC/MS, CID and ECD could be utilized in order to decipher the amino acid sequence of the toxin components. A combination ECD analysis and selective N-terminal labeling can aid the de novo sequencing of large peptides.