Functional duality and structural uniqueness of depressant insect-selective neurotoxins

Depressant insect-selective neurotoxins derived from scorpion venoms (a) induce in blowfly larvae a short, transient phase of contraction similar to that induced by excitatory neurotoxins followed by a prolonged flaccid paralysis and (b) displace excitatory toxins from their binding sites on insect neuronal membranes. The present study was undertaken in order to examine the basis of these similarities by comparing the primary structures and neuromuscular effects of depressant and excitatory toxins. A new depressant toxin (LqhIT2) was purified from the venom of the Israeli yellow scorpion. The effects of this toxin on a prepupal housefly neuromuscular preparation mimic the effects on the intact animal; i.e., a brief period of repetitive bursts of junction potentials is followed by suppression of their amplitude and finally by a block of neuromuscular transmission. Loose patch clamp recordings indicate that the repetitive activity has a presynaptic origin in the motor nerve and closely resembles the effect of the excitatory toxin AaIT. The final synaptic block is attributed to neuronal membrane depolarization, which results in an increase in spontaneous transmitter release; this effect is not induced by excitatory toxin. The amino acid sequences of three depressant toxins were determined by automatic Edman degradation. The depressant toxins comprise a well-defined family of polypeptides with a high degree of sequence conservation. This group differs considerably in primary structure from the excitatory toxin, with which it shares identical or related binding sites, and from the two groups of scorpion toxins that affect sodium conductance in mammals. The two opposing pharmacological effects of depressant toxins are discussed in light of the above data.