Molecular cloning of a gamma-phospholipase A2 inhibitor from Lachesis muta muta (the bushmaster snake)

Several endogenous phospholipase A(2) inhibitors (PLIs) have been purified from the blood plasma of a number of snake species and are classified into three classes (alpha, beta and gamma) according to their structure and specificity. In the present study we have cloned transcripts of a protein homologous to CNF, a gammaPLI present in Crotalus durissus terrificus plasma, that is encoded in the liver of Lachesis muta muta (the bushmaster snake), a species evolutionarily related to Crotalus. The cDNA sequences code for two isoforms of a 200-residue protein including a 19-residue signal peptide followed by 181 amino acid residues in the mature form and a putative N-linked carbohydrate site. The deduced primary structures and some properties of those new proteins were compared to those of CNF. Multiple alignment was performed with the aminoacid sequences of all the gammaPLIs described so far and this used in the construction of a phylogenetic tree.