MOLECULAR-CLONING AND NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE ANALYSIS OF A CDNA-ENCODING THE MAIN BETA-NEUROTOXIN FROM THE VENOM OF THE SOUTH-AMERICAN SCORPION TITYUS-SERRULATUS

A cDNA encoding the main Tityus serrulatus beta-neurotoxin was isolated from a venom gland cDNA library by using an oligonucleotide probe. The amino acid sequence deduced from the cDNA nucleotide sequence indicated that the toxin is the processed product of a precursor containing: (i) a signal peptide of 20 residues: (ii) the amino acid sequence of the mature toxin; and (iii) an extra Gly-Lys-Lys tail at the C-terminal end before the termination codon. Thus, in addition to the removal of the signal peptide by a signal peptidase, the generation of the mature toxin requires both a post-translational cleavage by a carboxypeptidase specific for basic residues and the action of an alpha-amidating enzyme. These results also show that the biosynthetic pathway for beta-toxins of 'New World' scorpion venoms is similar to that already described for alpha-toxins of 'Old World' scorpion venoms.