Opossum peptide that can neutralize rattlesnake venom is expressed in Escherichia coli |
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| Authors: | Claire F Komives Elda E Sanchez Anurag S Rathore Brandon White Michael Balderrama Montamas Suntravat Angela Cifelli Varsha Joshi |
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| Institution: | 1. Dept. of Biomedical, Chemical and Materials Engineering, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA;2. National Natural Toxins Research Center, Texas A&M University‐Kingsville, Kingsville, TX;3. IIT Delhi, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Haus Khas, New Delhi, India;4. Dept. of Biological Sciences, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA |
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| Abstract: | An eleven amino acid ribosomal peptide was shown to completely neutralize Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus atrox) venom in mice when a lethal dose of the venom was pre‐incubated with the peptide prior to intravenous injection. We have expressed the peptide as a concatenated chain of peptides and cleaved them apart from an immobilized metal affinity column using a protease. After ultrafiltration steps, the mixture was shown to partially neutralize rattlesnake venom in mice. Preliminary experiments are described here that suggest a potential life‐saving therapy could be developed. To date, no recombinant therapies targeting cytotoxic envenomation have been reported. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 33:81–86, 2017 |
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| Keywords: | antivenom rattlesnake tandem repeats |
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