AMINO-ACID SEQUENCE OF A POSTSYNAPTIC NEUROTOXIN FROM THE VENOM OF THE AUSTRALIAN TIGER SNAKE NOTECHIS-SCUTATUS-SCUTATUS

Although 60 percent of the protein in tiger snake (Notechis scutatus scutatus) venom consists of the basic pre-synaptically neurotoxic and myotoxic phospholipases notexin and Notechis II-5 and other phospholipase homologs such as Notechis II-1, several post-synaptic « curaremimeticneurotoxins are present in small amounts. The major one of these is a typical « longneurotoxin containing 73 amino acids in a single peptide chain cross-linked by five disulfide bridges. The formula weight calculated from the amino acid sequence is 8,051. The LD50 for intravenous injection into mice is 125 μg/kg. © 1979 Masson, Paris.