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Updated: Jul 19, 2026

Harvesting Venom Toxins from Assassin Bugs and Other Heteropteran Insects
Published on: April 21, 2018
The first potassium channel toxin from the venom of the Iranian scorpion Odonthobuthus doriae
Yousra Abdel-Mottaleb1, Elke Clynen, Amir Jalali
1Laboratory of Toxicology, University of Leuven, Onderwijs and Navorsing II, Herestraat 49, P.O. Box 922, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Abstract:
The very first member of K(+) channels toxins from the venom of the Iranian scorpion Odonthobuthus doriae (OdK1) was purified, sequenced and characterized physiologically. OdK1 has 29 amino acids, six conserved cysteines and a pI value of 4.95. Based on multiple sequence alignments, OdK1 was classified as alpha-KTx 8.5. The pharmacological effects of OdK1 were studied on six different cloned K(+) channels (vertebrate Kv1.1-Kv1.5 and Shaker IR) expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes. Interestingly, OdK1 selectively inhibited the currents through Kv1.2 channels with an IC50 value of 183+/-3 nM but did not affect any of the other channels.
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