Taipan Natriuretic Peptides Are Potent and Selective Agonists for the Natriuretic Peptide Receptor A.

Cardiovascular ailments are a major cause of mortality where over 1.3 billion people suffer from hypertension leading to heart-disease related deaths. Snake venoms possess a broad repertoire of natriuretic peptides with therapeutic potential for treating hypertension, congestive heart failure, and related cardiovascular disease.

Holocyclotoxin-1, a cystine knot toxin from Ixodes holocyclus.

In the past 100 years minimal venom research has focused on ticks despite several species possessing a highly paralytic and lethal venom cocktail of proteinaceous molecules. The saliva of the Australian paralysis tick, Ixodes holocyclus, has been responsible for 20 human fatalities from 1900 to 1945, and up to 100,000 domestic animal fatalities annually. In the last 50 years, research on this tick has focused on identifying the neurotoxins present in the saliva and in the last ten years the sequence of a potential neurotoxin, HT-1, has been determined.

Cyanovirin-N inhibits mannose-dependent Mycobacterium-C-type lectin interactions but does not protect against murine tuberculosis.

Cyanovirin-N (CV-N) is a mannose-binding lectin that inhibits HIV-1 infection by blocking mannose-dependent target cell entry via C-type lectins. Like HIV-1, Mycobacterium tuberculosis expresses mannosylated surface structures and exploits C-type lectins to gain cell access. In this study, we investigated whether CV-N, like HIV-1, can inhibit M.

De novo sequencing of peptides from the parotid secretion of the cane toad, Bufo marinus (Rhinella marina).

Amphibian skin secretions are well known as a rich source of bioactive peptides. However, little is known about the presence or role of peptides in the highly toxic, parotid secretion of the cane toad or giant toad, Bufo marinus (Rhinella marina), though small molecule bufadienolides, which act as potent cardiotoxins, have been described. In the current study we used RP-HPLC, MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry to analyze and determine the first sequences of peptides from the parotid secretion of B.