[Determination of Jingzhaotoxin-I phospholipid membrane-binding activities by high performance liquid chromatography
Xiongzhi Zeng1, Jianhui Pi, Songping Liang
1The Key Laboratory of Protein Chemistry and Developmental Biology of Ministry of Education, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China. xiongzhizeng@yahoo.com.cn
Abstract:
Jingzhaotoxin-I (JZTX-I), a 33-residue polypeptide with three disulfide bonds, was a novel spider neurotoxin preferentially inhibiting cardiac sodium channel inactivation. Its activities of phospholipid membrane-binding were studied by a combination of reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and fluorescence spectroscopy. Small unilamellar vesicles binding assays showed that the partitioning of JZTX-I into lipid bilayer did not require negatively charged phospholipids. Further, JZTX-I also exhibited a blue shift of 6.4 nm or 4.7 nm as well as red-edge excitation shift of 7.4 nm or 8.0 nm in the presence of 75% 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine (POPE )/25% 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-[phospho-rac-(1-glycerol)] (sodium salt) (POPG) or 100% 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (POPC) vesicles respectively, suggesting that some tryptophan residues on the hydrophobic surface of the toxin were located within a motion restricted membrane interfacial region. Fluorescence quenching experiments suggested that some tryptophan residues of JZTX-I were positioned within the membrane and protected from aqueous quenching agents. These findings should provide further insight into the molecular mechanism of the channel gating of JZTX-I.
