Disease relevance of Agkistrodon

• By means of CM-Sephadex C-25, DEAE-Sephadex A-50, Sephadex G-200, and Sephadex G-75 chromatographies, a lupus anticoagulant like protein (LALP) from Agkistrodon halys brevicaudus was purified [1].
• To determine the real performance of the Agkistrodon contortrix venom (ACV) screening test for protein C (PC) pathway defects, we studied 400 consecutive patients referred for the study of personal venous thrombosis or for family study [2].
• The amino acid sequence of the hemorrhagic toxin, bilitoxin-1, isolated from the venom of Agkistrodon bilineatus was determined by the Edman sequencing procedure of peptides derived from digests utilizing cyanogen bromide, clostripain, lysyl endopeptidase, and Staphylococcus aureus V8 protease [3].
• Protein C activator from the venom of Agkistrodon blomhoffi ussuriensis retards thrombus formation in the arterio-venous shunt in rats [4].
• A cDNA encoding a basic-acidic hybrid phospholipase A2-II from Agkistrodon halys Pallas with an N-terminus highly homologous to that of BPLA2 and a C-terminus sequence almost the same as that of APLA2 was inserted into a bacterial expression vector and effectively expressed in Escherichia coli RR1 [5].

High impact information on Agkistrodon

• We herein report a KDR-binding protein we have isolated in the venom of eastern cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus) [6].
• Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix protein C activator, a glycosylated single-chain serine proteinase, activates protein C without relying on thrombomodulin [7].
• We deduced that Agkistrodon actus venom serine proteinases I and II, previously isolated from the venom of A. acutus (Zhu, Z., Gong, P., Teng, M., and Niu, L. (2003) Acta Crystallogr. Sect. D Biol. Crystallogr. 59, 547-550), are encoded by two almost identical genes, with only the single substitution Asp for Asn at residue 62 [8].
• The crystal structure of a novel, inactive, lysine 49 PLA2 from Agkistrodon acutus venom: an ultrahigh resolution, AB initio structure determination [9].
• The Ca2+ requirement for lipid hydrolysis catalyzed by phospholipase A2 from Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus (App-D49) and porcine pancreas has been examined using small, unilamellar vesicles of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC SUV) [10].

Biological context of Agkistrodon

• The initial rate of hydrolysis of large unilamellar vesicles of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine by phospholipase A2 from the venom of Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus is small and elevates gradually until it suddenly increases by a factor of 10 to 1000 depending on the experimental conditions [11].
• The role of the activation peptide in determining the substrate specificity of intrinsic pathway factor X (fX) activation was studied by using a novel derivative of fX in which 49 residues were removed enzymatically from the NH2 terminus of the 52-residue activation peptide by an enzyme from the venom of the snake Agkistrodon rhodostoma [12].
• Acutolysin A alias AaHI, a 22 kDa hemorrhagic toxin isolated from the snake venom of Agkistrodon acutus, is a member of the adamalysin subfamily of the metzincin family and is a snake venom zinc metalloproteinase possessing only one catalytic domain [13].
• Agkisacutacin, a C-type lectin-like protein (CLP) isolated from Agkistrodon acutus venom, had been previously identified as an antagonist of platelet aggregation induced by ristocetin, as well as a certain extent fibrinogenlytic activity [14].
• We used mitochondrial DNA sequences from three gene regions and two tRNAs (ND4, tRNA-HIS-SER, 12S, and 16S rDNA) to investigate the historical ecology of the New World pitviper clade Agkistrodon, with emphasis on the disjunct subspecies of the cantil, A. bilineatus [15].

Anatomical context of Agkistrodon

• Identification of domains of phosphatidylcholine in human erythrocyte plasma membranes. Differential action of acidic and basic phospholipases A2 from Agkistrodon halys blomhoffii [16].
• Purification and characterization of three distinct types of phospholipase A2 inhibitors from the blood plasma of the Chinese mamushi, Agkistrodon blomhoffii siniticus [17].
• The thrombin-like serine protease ancrod from the Malayan pit viper Agkistrodon rhodostoma was expressed in mouse epithelial cells (C127) [18].
• We have previously reported that salmosin, a novel disintegrin, was isolated from Korean snake (Agkistrodon halys brevicaudus) venom and significantly inhibited solid tumor growth in mice by perturbation of tumor-specific angiogenesis via blocking alphavbeta3 integrin expressed on vascular endothelial cells [19].
• Injury and recovery of fast and slow skeletal muscle fibers affected by ACL myotoxin isolated from Agkistrodon contortrix laticinctus (Broad-Banded copperhead) venom [20].

Associations of Agkistrodon with chemical compounds

• Thermodynamic and kinetic studies of the interaction of vesicular dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine with Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus phospholipase A2 [21].
• This particular phospholipase A2, purified from the venom of the eastern cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus), a North American pit viper, differs significantly from others studied crystallographically because of replacement of the aspartate residue at position 49, whose side chain is important in calcium binding, by lysine [22].
• A novel tetrameric venom protein, agglucetin from Agkistrodon acutus, acts as a glycoprotein Ib agonist [23].
• Effects of temperature and glycerides on the enhancement of Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus phospholipase A2 activity by lysolecithin and palmitic acid [24].
• We isolated a novel heterodimeric disintegrin, acostatin, from the venom of Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix, which consisted of 63 and 64 amino acid residues in the alpha chain and beta chain, and both chains had the Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) sequence for binding platelet GPIIb/IIIa [25].

Gene context of Agkistrodon

• Most PC activators have been purified from venom of snake species belonging to the genera of the Agkistrodon complex [26].
• By a cut-off of normalized Agkistrodon contortix snake venom ratio of 0.84, the sensitivity in the whole group of cases (sensitivity a) was 76.1, 95.0 and 100%, respectively, for PS, PC and FV Leiden defects [27].
• Identifying a defect affecting the protein C/protein S (PC/PS) anticoagulant system, using a single global test, has recently become possible thanks to a new methodological approach based on the activation of endogenous plasma PC by Protac, derived from Agkistrodon Contortix snake venom (ACV) [28].
• Protein C antigen levels were measured by rocket immunoelectrophoresis, and functional activity was quantitated by a chromogenic assay and an anticoagulant assay utilizing the venom of Agkistrodon contortrix [29].
• 1H, 15N and 13C resonance assignments are presented for the group II phospholipase A2 (PLA2) from Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus [30].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Agkistrodon

• Sequence analysis of the first 63 amino acid residues from the N-terminus of BaMIP indicated more than 65% sequence similarity to the PLA2 inhibitors isolated from the blood of the crotalid snakes Trimeresurus flavoviridis and Agkistrodon blomhoffii siniticus [31].
• The venom of Agkistrodon halys was fractionated by DEAE-cellulose chromatography and the pooled protein fractions that resulted were injected intravenously into the quail with aortic atherosclerosis induced by dietary cholesterol [32].
• Purification, N-terminal sequencing, partial characterization, crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of two glycosylated serine proteinases from Agkistrodon acutus venom [33].
• Concentrations of p,p'-DDE in fat were correlated positively with body size in male cottonmouths but not females, suggesting a slower rate of accumulation in females [34].
• The effect of four isolated proteolytic fractions of Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix venom on fibrinogen and its polymerizing ability was investigated by means of radioimmunoassay for fibrinopeptides A and B (FPA, FPB), fibrinogen fragment B beta 15-42 and by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [35].

References