Physicochemical characterization and functional analysis of some snake venom toxin proteins and related non-toxin proteins of other chordates

Snake venom contains a diverse array of proteins and polypeptides. Cytotoxins and short neurotoxins are non-enzymatic polypeptide components of snake venom. The three-dimensional structure of cytotoxin and short neurotoxin resembles a three finger appearance of three-finger protein super family. Different family members of three-finger protein super family are employed in diverse biological functions. In this work we analyzed the cytotoxin, short neurotoxin and related non-toxin proteins of other chordates in terms of functional analysis, amino acid compositional (%) profile, number of amino acids, molecular weight, theoretical isoelectric point (pI), number of positively charged and negatively charged amino acid residues, instability index and grand average of hydropathy with the help of different bioinformatical tools. Among all interesting results, profile of amino acid composition (%) depicts that all sequences contain a conserved cysteine amount but differential amount of different amino acid residues which have a family specific pattern. Involvement in different biological functions is one of the driving forces which contribute the vivid amino acid composition profile of these proteins. Different biological system dependent adaptation gives the birth of enriched bio-molecules. Understanding of physicochemical properties of these proteins will help to generate medicinally important therapeutic molecules for betterment of human lives.