{"id":243,"date":"2017-10-31T13:46:38","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T17:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/?page_id=243"},"modified":"2017-11-03T15:49:01","modified_gmt":"2017-11-03T19:49:01","slug":"%cf%89-atracotoxin-2-a-blocker-of-insect-calcium-channels","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/protein-structures\/%cf%89-atracotoxin-2-a-blocker-of-insect-calcium-channels\/","title":{"rendered":"\u03c9-Atracotoxin-2, a Blocker of Insect Calcium Channels"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pl-243\"  class=\"panel-layout\" ><div id=\"pg-243-0\"  class=\"panel-grid panel-no-style\" ><div id=\"pgc-243-0-0\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div id=\"panel-243-0-0-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_black-studio-tinymce widget_black_studio_tinymce panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"0\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><p><div style=\"width: 400px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('video');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-243-1\" width=\"400\" height=\"360\" loop=\"1\" autoplay=\"1\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/177\/2017\/11\/W-Atracotoxin-2-1.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/177\/2017\/11\/W-Atracotoxin-2-1.mp4\">https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/177\/2017\/11\/W-Atracotoxin-2-1.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><div id=\"pgc-243-0-1\"  class=\"panel-grid-cell\" ><div class=\"panel-cell-style panel-cell-style-for-243-0-1\" ><div id=\"panel-243-0-1-0\" class=\"so-panel widget widget_black-studio-tinymce widget_black_studio_tinymce panel-first-child panel-last-child\" data-index=\"1\" ><div class=\"textwidget\"><p>The \u03c9-atracotoxin-2 family of toxins appear to be the most potent blockers of insect voltage-gated calcium channels reported to date. They have exceptional phylogenetic specificity, with at least a 10,000-fold preference for insect over vertebrate channels. In contrast with most other cystine knot toxins, they contain a structurally disordered, highly hydrophobic C-terminal tail which is essential for neurotoxic activity. We proposed a model in which the lipophilic tail initiates toxin binding by penetrating the membrane either adjacent to the channel or, more likely, by intercalation between transmembrane segments of the channel protein.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Wang, X-H., Connor, M., Wilson, D., Wilson, H.I., Nicholson, G.M., Smith, R., Shaw, D., Mackay, J.P., Alewood, P.F., Christie, M.J. and King, G.F. (2001) Discovery and structure of a potent and highly specific blocker of insect calcium channels.\u00a0<em>Journal of Biological Chemistry\u00a0<\/em>276, 40306-40312.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/entrez\/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&amp;db=PubMed&amp;list_uids=11522785&amp;dopt=Abstract\">PubMed<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jbc.org\/cgi\/content\/full\/276\/43\/40306\" class=\"broken_link\">Journal<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rcsb.org\/pdb\/cgi\/explore.cgi?pid=266951037830037&amp;pdbId=1G9P\" class=\"broken_link\">PDB Link<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/protein-structures\/\">Back to Image Gallery<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The \u03c9-atracotoxin-2 family of toxins appear to be the most potent blockers of insect voltage-gated calcium channels reported to date. They have exceptional phylogenetic specificity, with at least a 10,000-fold preference for insect over vertebrate channels. In contrast with most other cystine knot toxins, they contain a structurally disordered, highly hydrophobic C-terminal tail which is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"parent":155,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-03 23:00:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":568,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/243\/revisions\/568"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/health.uconn.edu\/structural-biology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}