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Identification by cross‐linking of a neuronal acceptor protein for dendrotoxin, a convulsant polypeptide
Author(s) -
Mehraban Fuad,
Breeze Alexander L.,
Dolly J.Oliver
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/0014-5793(84)81088-1
Subject(s) - convulsant , protein subunit , chemistry , venom , biochemistry , toxin , acceptor , receptor , physics , gene , condensed matter physics
Dendrotoxin, a lijow molecular weight protein from the venom of Dendroaspis angusticeps , is known to be a potent convulsant that attenuates one type of voltage‐sensitive K + channel in guinea‐pig hippocampus. A biologically active preparation of 125 I‐labelled dendrotoxin has been cross‐linked to its high‐affinity protein acceptor in synaptic plasma membranes from rat cerebral cortex. On SDS gel electrophoresis, a complex with a M r of 72,000 was observed which, assuming one toxin molecule is attached, yields an apparent size of 65,000 for this subunit of the acceptor. Unlike dendrotoxin, low concentrations of β‐bungarotoxin, another pre‐synaptically acitve toxin, do not inhibit its labelling.