Cloning and sequence analysis of a snake, Atractaspis engaddensis gene encoding sarafotoxin S6c

A 469 base pair genomic DNA, which encodes the mature region of a snake cardiotoxic peptide, sarafotoxin S6c, was isolated from the liver of the burrowing asp, Atractaspis engaddensis. The nucleotide sequence encoding the mature peptide region showed a high sequence homology with those of mammalian vasoconstrictor peptides, endothelin family as expected from the high homology of their amino acid sequences. In contrast, both of the upper and lower flanking sequences of sarafotoxin gene and the deduced amino acid sequence of the sarafotoxin precursor were quite different from those of endothelin family. These results suggest that the ancestral gene and biosynthetic pathway of sarafotoxins are different from those of endothelin.