Nevertheless nearly all amino acid residues that compose the basic/aromatic and basic/hydroxyl clusters proposed as interaction PD0325901 datasheet surface of APETx2 with ASIC3 [16] and [25],

are conserved in U-AITX-Bg1c (see Fig. 5B). These are R17, R31, F15, Y16, Y32, F33 (basic/aromatic cluster), and S9, K10 (basic/hydroxyl cluster) in APETx2 (see Suppl. Fig. 1B), which are represented by R18, K19, Y15, W16, Y32, F33 (basic/aromatic cluster) and T9, K10 (basic/hydroxyl cluster) in U-AITX-Bg1c. Moreover, although R31 is absent in U-AITX-Bg1c it is worthy of mentioning that R36 is spatially near to R18 and K19; therefore it can be considered as part of the basic/aromatic cluster. Regarding APETx1, it has been proposed an interaction surface comprising the aromatic residues Y5, Y32, and F33, two basic residues, K8 and K18, and three aliphatic amino acids, G7, G31 and L34 [15]. More recently K18 and L34/F33/Y32 have been proposed to be involved in the interaction with hERG channel [86]. Among the new APETx-like peptides, U-AITX-Bg1d

is the closest to APETx1 regarding the conservation of all these amino acid residues, which are represented by W5, Y32, F33, K10, K17, G7, G31, and M34 (see Fig. 5B). Interestingly, as observed also in Fig. 5B, the other peptides U-AITX-Bg1a and 1b do not show positively charged amino acid residues located closely to R17 and R31 positions of APETx2. Those molecules only present a single K8, which is exposed together with F5 and W5 near the N-termini of U-AITX-Bg1a and 1b, respectively. In addition, the electrostatic potentials of such molecules ABT-888 solubility dmso vary a lot, and U-AITX-Bg1a and 1b are the less charged ones. On the contrary, U-AITX-Bg1c and 1e present the most dense positive surfaces. In Suppl. Fig. 1C and D we also depict the electrostatic potentials of APETx1, APETx2, BcIV and the putative new U-AITX-Ael1a.

Also, in the same Suppl. Fig. 1B the distribution of positively charged and aromatic residues in U-AITX-Ael1a suggests that such a peptide Farnesyltransferase may represent a “chimera” of contact surfaces of either APETx1 or APETx2. The crab bioassay is a simple test widely used for the detection of sea anemone toxins [6], [7], [8], [10], [35], [37], [38], [54], [73], [74], [75] and [80], mostly acting on sodium channels. Envenomed crabs exhibit a severe paralysis within seconds or few minutes after the injection of a sodium channel toxin. Reactions comprise an initial spastic and tetanic phase, and a later rigid phase followed by death of the crabs [80]. On the other hand, several sea anemone peptides belonging to other classes of toxins have been also discovered, through a careful observation of symptoms provoked on crabs [35], [37], [38] and [75]. In the present work we tested all fractions obtained by reversed-phase chromatography. In total, 23 toxic fractions (6 from S. helianthus and 17 from B. granulifera) were found ( Table 1).