Isolation and characterization of a novel protein toxin from fire coral |
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Authors: | Iguchi Akiko Iwanaga Setsuko Nagai Hiroshi |
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Institution: | a Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, 4-5-7 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8477, Japan b Okinawa Prefectural Institute of Health and Environment, 2085 Ozato, Nanjo, Okinawa 901-1202, Japan |
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Abstract: | Fire corals (Millepora spp.) cause severe pain and inflammatory effects in humans upon contact, and the organs responsible for these effects are called nematocysts. Here, we isolated an active cytotoxin of ca. 18 kDa (MCTx-1) from nematocysts of Millepora dichotoma var. tenera. MCTx-1 was potently cytotoxic (EC50 value 79 ng/mL) towards L1210 mouse leukemia cells, hemagglutinated a 0.8% suspension of sheep erythrocytes (0.2 μg protein/mL) and was lethal in crayfish (LD50, 106 μg/kg). We deduced the primary structure of MCTx-1 from the corresponding cDNA sequence and found that MCTx-1 is a novel dermatopontin that is an extracellular matrix protein in mammals. This is the first characterization of a proteinaceous toxin from fire coral. |
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Keywords: | Fire coral Millepora Cytotoxin Nematocyst Toxin Dermatopontin |
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