The role of glycine residues at the C-terminal peptide segment in antinociceptive activity: a molecular dynamics simulation

J Mol Model. 2013 Mar;19(3):1295-9. doi: 10.1007/s00894-012-1666-y. Epub 2012 Nov 24.

Abstract

Elucidating structural determinants in the functional regions of toxins can provide useful knowledge for designing novel analgesic peptides. Glycine residues at the C-terminal region of the neurotoxin BmK AGP-SYPU2 from the scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch (BmK) have been shown to be crucial to its analgesic activity. However, there has been no research on the structure-function relationship between the C-terminal segment of this toxin and its analgesic activity. To address this issue, we performed three MD simulations: one on the native structure and the other two on mutants of that structure. Results of these calculations suggest that the existence of glycine residues at the C-terminal segment stabilizes the protruding topology of the NC domain, which is considered an important determinant of the analgesic activity of BmK AGP-SYPU2.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Analgesics / chemistry
  • Analgesics / metabolism*
  • Animals
  • Glycine / chemistry*
  • Models, Molecular
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutation
  • Peptides / chemistry*
  • Peptides / metabolism*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Protein Folding
  • Protein Structure, Secondary
  • Scorpion Venoms / chemistry*
  • Scorpion Venoms / metabolism*
  • Structure-Activity Relationship

Substances

  • Analgesics
  • KAGAP protein, Buthus martensii Karsch
  • Peptides
  • Scorpion Venoms
  • Glycine