Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 29, 2026

Identification of Hemolytic and Phospholipase Activity in Crude Extracts from Sea Anemones by Straightforward Bioassays
Published on: March 29, 2022
A Novel Phospholipase A2 Isolated from Palythoa caribaeorum Possesses Neurotoxic Activity
Miguel Cuevas-Cruz1, Fernando Lazcano-Pérez2, Ulises Hernández-Guzmán3
1Departamento de Química de Biomacromoléculas, Instituto de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México C.P. 04510, Mexico. miguelcuevascruz@ciencias.unam.mx.
Abstract:
Zoanthids of the genus Palythoa are distributed worldwide in shallow waters around coral reefs. Like all cnidarians, they possess nematocysts that contain a large diversity of toxins that paralyze their prey. This work was aimed at isolating and functionally characterizing a cnidarian neurotoxic phospholipase named A2-PLTX-Pcb1a for the first time. This phospholipase was isolated from the venomous extract of the zoanthid Palythoa caribaeorum. This enzyme, which is Ca2+-dependent, is a 149 amino acid residue protein. The analysis of the A2-PLTX-Pcb1a sequence showed neurotoxic domain similitude with other neurotoxic sPLA₂´s, but a different catalytic histidine domain. This is remarkable, since A2-PLTX-Pcb1a displays properties like those of other known PLA₂ enzymes.
Related Concept Videos
Co-activators and Co-repressors
tRNA Activation
Activation Energy
Eukaryotic Transcription Activators
The binding domains are capable of recognizing and interacting with regulatory sequences on the DNA. These...
Secondary Active Transport
Primary Active Transport

