Hainantoxin-II （HnTx-II）, a novel neurotoxin, was isolated from the venom of the Chinese bird spider （Haplopelma hainanum） by cation exchange chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC. The toxin was a single chain pol...Hainantoxin-II （HnTx-II）, a novel neurotoxin, was isolated from the venom of the Chinese bird spider （Haplopelma hainanum） by cation exchange chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC. The toxin was a single chain polypeptide with calculated molecular weight of 4 253.135 obtained by mass spectrometry. The complete amino acid sequence of HnTx-II was determined by Edman degradation and found to contain 37 residues with three disulfide bonds. Results showed HnTx-II can reversibly paralyze cockroaches for several hours after intra-abdominal injection with ED50 of 16 μg/g and kill the insects immediately at a dose of 60 μg/g. It was also shown to kill mice at a LD50 value of 1.41μg/g after intracerebroventricular injection. Hainantoxin-II shares 91% sequence homology with Huwentoxin-II （HwTx-II）, an insecticidal peptide from another bird spider （Haplopelma schmidti） with a unique scaffold. While HnTx-II and HwTx-II both exhibit toxic activities in insects and mammals, HnTx-II shows higher insecticidal activity and lower lethiferous activity of mammals than HwTx-II. These results help clarify structural-functional relationships of the polypeptide toxin.展开更多
α-Galactosylceramides, which can be recognized by natural killer T （NKT） cells, are now attracting more and more attention due to their therapeutic potential in cancer, infection and autoimmune diseases. Advances h...α-Galactosylceramides, which can be recognized by natural killer T （NKT） cells, are now attracting more and more attention due to their therapeutic potential in cancer, infection and autoimmune diseases. Advances have been achieved in discovering compounds with better activities and efforts have been made to understand the structure-activity relationships （SARs） of these NKT cell ligands. In this review, we discuss the structure modifications based on KRN7000, the principal glycolipid used in the study of NKT cell stimulation, and the SARs based on these modified structures.展开更多
基金supported by the Research Project of the Education Department of Zhejiang Province, China (Y200805989)~~
文摘Hainantoxin-II （HnTx-II）, a novel neurotoxin, was isolated from the venom of the Chinese bird spider （Haplopelma hainanum） by cation exchange chromatography and reverse-phase HPLC. The toxin was a single chain polypeptide with calculated molecular weight of 4 253.135 obtained by mass spectrometry. The complete amino acid sequence of HnTx-II was determined by Edman degradation and found to contain 37 residues with three disulfide bonds. Results showed HnTx-II can reversibly paralyze cockroaches for several hours after intra-abdominal injection with ED50 of 16 μg/g and kill the insects immediately at a dose of 60 μg/g. It was also shown to kill mice at a LD50 value of 1.41μg/g after intracerebroventricular injection. Hainantoxin-II shares 91% sequence homology with Huwentoxin-II （HwTx-II）, an insecticidal peptide from another bird spider （Haplopelma schmidti） with a unique scaffold. While HnTx-II and HwTx-II both exhibit toxic activities in insects and mammals, HnTx-II shows higher insecticidal activity and lower lethiferous activity of mammals than HwTx-II. These results help clarify structural-functional relationships of the polypeptide toxin.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.90713010)"863"Program from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No.2006AA09Z405).
文摘α-Galactosylceramides, which can be recognized by natural killer T （NKT） cells, are now attracting more and more attention due to their therapeutic potential in cancer, infection and autoimmune diseases. Advances have been achieved in discovering compounds with better activities and efforts have been made to understand the structure-activity relationships （SARs） of these NKT cell ligands. In this review, we discuss the structure modifications based on KRN7000, the principal glycolipid used in the study of NKT cell stimulation, and the SARs based on these modified structures.
