Three-dimensional structure analysis of mu-agatoxins: further evidence for common motifs among neurotoxins with diverse ion channel specificities.

We report the solution structure of mu-agatoxin-I (mu-Aga-I) and model structures of the closely related mu-agatoxin-IV (mu-Aga-IV) which were isolated from venom of the American funnel web spider, Agelenopsis aperta. These toxins, which modify the kinetics of neuronal voltage-activated sodium channels in insects, are C-terminally amidated peptides composed to 36 amino acids, including four internal disulfide bonds. The structure of mu-Aga-I was determined by NMR and distance geometry/molecular dynamics calculations. Structural calculations were carried out using 256 interresidue NOE-derived distance restraints and 25 angle restraints obtained from vicinal coupling constants. The peptide contains eight cysteines involved in disulfide bonds, the pairings of which were uncertain and had to be determined from preliminary structure calculations. The toxin has an average rmsd of 0.89 A for the backbone atoms among 38 converged conformers. The structure consists of a well-defined triple-stranded beta-sheet involving residues 7-9, 20-24, and 30-34 and four tight turns. A homologous peptide, mu-Aga-IV, exhibited two distinct and equally populated conformations in solution, which complicated spectral analysis. Analysis of sequential NOE's confirmed that the conformers arose from cis and trans peptide bonds involving a proline at position 15. Models were developed for both conformers based on the mu-Aga-I structure. Our structural data show that the mu-agatoxins, although specific modifiers of sodium channels, share common secondary and tertiary structural motifs with phylogenetically diverse peptide toxins targeting a variety of channel types. The mu-agatoxins add voltage-sensitive sodium channel activity to a growing list of neurotoxic effects elicited by peptide toxins which share the same global fold yet differ in their animal origin and ion channel selectivity.

Design and structure-activity relationships of C-terminal cyclic neurotensin fragment analogues.

Neurotensin (NT) is a linear tridecapeptide with a broad range of central and peripheral pharmacological effects. The C-terminal hexapeptide of NT (NT8-13) has been shown to possess similar properties to NT itself, and in fact, an analogue of NT8-13 (N alpha MeArg8-Lys-Pro-Trp-Tle-Leu13, Tle = tert-leucine) has been reported to possess central activity after peripheral administration. Cyclic derivatives of this hexapeptide were synthesized by a combination of solution and solid-phase peptide synthetic methodologies, and several analogues had low nanomolar binding affinity for the NT receptor. In particular, cyclo[Arg-Lys-Pro-Trp-Glu]-Leu (cyclized between the alpha amine of Arg and the gamma carboxylate of Glu) possessed 16 nM NT receptor affinity and was determined to be an agonist in vitro. 1H-NMR and 13C-edited 1H-NMR spectroscopy were performed on this and related cyclic analogues to help identify structural properties which may be important for receptor recognition. These cyclic peptides represent novel molecular probes to further investigate NT receptor pharmacology, as well as to advance our understanding of the structure-conformation relationships of NT and to help establish a working basis for additional pharmacophore mapping studies.