CHARACTERIZATION OF PO1, A NEW PEPTIDE LIGAND OF THE APAMIN-SENSITIVE CA2+ACTIVATED K+ CHANNEL

A new peptide ligand of the small conductance Ca2+ activated K+ channels has been purified from the venom (obtained by manual rather than electrical stimulation of the scorpion Androctonus mauretanicus mauretanicus), by following the inhibition of the 125I-apamin binding to its receptor on rat brain synaptosomes. Only one step on a C18 reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography column was necessary to obtain PO1. Its K0.5 for the apamin binding site was 100 nM. The amino acid sequence of PO1 is different from those of leiurotoxin and PO5. For the first time the same peptide was also purified from the venoms of two other species of North African scorpions, Androctonus austmlis and Buthus occitanus tunetanus. PO1 was chemically synthesized by the solid-phase technique and fully characterized. A model of PO1 was constructed by amino acid replacement using PO5 nuclear magnetic resonance studies as the starting model. Structure-activity relationships between these toxins and their receptor are discussed.