A common structural motif consisting of a cystine knot and a small triple-stranded @-sheet has been defined from comparison of the 3-dimensional structures of the polypeptides w-conotoxin GVIA (Conus geogruphus), kalata BI (Oldenlundiu uffinis DC), and CMTI-I (Curcurbitu muximu). These 3 polypeptides have diverse biological activities and negligible amino acid sequence identity, but each contains 3 disulfide bonds that give rise to a cystine knot. This knot consists of a ring formed by the first 2 bonds (1-4 and 2-5) and the intervening polypeptide backbone, through which the third disulfide (3-6) passes. The other component of this motif is a triple-stranded, antiparallel @-sheet containing a minimum of 10 residues, XXC2, XC,X, XXC,X (where the numbers on the half-cystine residues refer to their positions in the disulfide pattern). The presence in these polypeptides of both the cystine knot and antiparallel @-sheet suggests that both structural features are required for the stability of the motif. This structural motif is also present in other protease inhibitors and a spider toxin. It appears to be one of the smallest stable globular domains found in proteins and is commonly used in toxins and inhibitors that act by blocking the function of larger protein receptors such as ion channels or proteases.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

The structure-function relationships of the N-type calcium channel blocker, -conotoxin GVIA (GVIA), have been elucidated by structural, binding and in vitro and in vivo functional studies of alanine-substituted analogues of the native molecule. Alanine was substituted at all non-bridging positions in the sequence. In most cases the structure of the analogues in aqueous solution was shown to be native-like by 1 H NMR spectroscopy. Minor conformational changes observed in some cases were characterized by two-dimensional NMR. Replacement of Lys 2 and Tyr 13 with Ala caused reductions in potency of more than 2 orders of magnitude in three functional assays (sympathetic nerve stimulation of rat isolated vas deferens, right atrium and mesenteric artery) and a rat brain membrane binding assay. Replacement of several other residues with Ala (particularly Arg 17 , Tyr 22 and Lys 24 ) resulted in significant reductions in potency (<100-fold) in the functional assays, but not the binding assay. The potencies of the analogues were strongly correlated between the different functional assays but not between the functional assays and the binding assay. Thus, the physiologically relevant assays employed in this study have shown that the high affinity of GVIA for the N-type calcium channel is the result of interactions between the channel binding site and the toxin at more sites than the previously identified Lys 2 and Tyr 13 .The fish-hunting marine cone snails produce a range of polypeptide toxins that rapidly immobilize their prey (1, 2). A number of such toxins targeted at ion channels have been isolated from the venoms of these cone shells, including several that selectively block N-and P-type calcium channels (3). The toxin studied here, -conotoxin GVIA (GVIA), 1 is a 27-residue polypeptide from Conus geographus (4) that selectively blocks N-type voltage-gated calcium channels (5, 6), an activity that may confer a number of useful therapeutic properties on GVIA, including antihypertensive, analgesic, and neuroprotective activities, as demonstrated for the closely related -conotoxin MVIIA (MVIIA) from Conus magus (7) .The amino acid sequence of GVIA (with the cystine bridges indicated by lines) is as show below.