The conotoxin cysteine framework XV (-C-C-CC-C-C-C-C-), which was named Lt15a, was firstly identified from the cDNA library of Conus litteratus. After that, 18 new framework XV conotoxin sequences were cloned from nine Conus species. Like other conopeptides, the XV-conotoxins have the conserved signal peptide and propeptide, and there are also some conserved residues in their mature peptide. All the framework XV conotoxins were apparently converged into two branches, because of the indel and point mutations occurred in their mature peptides. By fused with thioredoxin and 6×His tag, six XV-conotoxins were successfully expressed in Escherichia coli and purified. Different framework XV conotoxins have distinct biological activities on mice and frogs, and that may be related to the diversity of the toxin sequences. All the six XV-conotoxins had no obvious effects on the sodium currents of DRG neuron cells of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. The identification of this framework of conotoxins enriches our understanding of the structural and functional diversity of conotoxin.
Keywords: Bio-activity; Conotoxin; Cysteine framework; Diversity; Recombinant expression.
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