Vipoxin is a neurotoxic postsynaptic heterodimeric complex from the venom of Vipera ammodytes meridionalis, the most toxic snake in Europe. It consists of a basic and highly toxic phospholipase A(2) and an acidic non-toxic protein inhibitor. The two polypeptide chains have the same chain length and share 62% amino-acid identity. Vipoxin is a unique example of evolution of the catalytic and toxic phospholipase A(2) functions into inhibitory and non-toxic functions. The crystal structure of the complex has been determined by the molecular-replacement method and refined to 1.4 A resolution to an R factor of 18.2%. The complex formation decreases the accessible surface area of the two subunits by approximately 1480 A(2), which results in a reduction of toxicity and catalytic activity. The catalytic and substrate-binding sites of the vipoxin phospholipase A(2) are identical or similar to those of other group I/II enzymes. Two 2-methyl-2,4-pentanediol molecules are present in the hydrophobic channel close to the active site. The two subunits lack calcium ions. The negatively charged Asp49 of the phospholipase A(2), which participates in the Ca(2+)-binding sites of other snake-venom phospholipase A(2)s, is neutralized by the side chain of Lys69 from the inhibitor. Attempts have been made to identify the toxicity region and to explain the reduced catalytic activity and toxicity of the phospholipase A(2) subunit.

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Vipoxin is the main toxic component in the venom of the Bulgarian snake Vipera ammodytes meridionalis, the most toxic snake in Europe. Vipoxin is a complex between a toxic phospholipase A 2 (PLA 2 ) and a non-toxic protein inhibitor. The structure is of genetic interest due to the high degree of sequence homology (62%) between the two functionally different components. The structure shows that the formation of the complex in vipoxin is significantly different to that seen in many known structures of phospholipases and contradicts the assumptions made in earlier studies. The modulation of PLA 2 activity is of great pharmacological interest, and the present structure will be a model for structure-based drug design.

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