Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Identification of Hemolytic and Phospholipase Activity in Crude Extracts from Sea Anemones by Straightforward Bioassays
Published on: March 29, 2022
SDS-induced oligomerization of Lys49-phospholipase A2 from snake venom
Takashi Matsui1, Shizuka Kamata1, Kentaro Ishii2
1Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8577, Japan.
Abstract:
Phospholipase A2 (PLA2) is one of the representative toxic components of snake venom. PLA2s are categorized into several subgroups according to the amino acid at position 49, which comprises either Asp49, Lys49, Arg49 or Ser49. Previous studies suggested that the Lys49-PLA2 assembles into an extremely stable dimer. Although the behavior on Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) under reducing or non-reducing conditions suggested the presence of intermolecular disulfide bonds, these bonds were not observed in the crystal structure of Lys49-PLA2. The reason for this discrepancy between the crystal structure and SDS-PAGE of Lys49-PLA2 remains unknown. In this study, we analyzed a Lys49-PLA2 homologue from Protobothrops flavoviridis (PflLys49-PLA2 BPII), by biophysical analyses including X-ray crystallography, SDS-PAGE, native-mass spectrometry, and analytical ultracentrifugation. The results demonstrated that PflLys49-PLA2 BPII spontaneously oligomerized in the presence of SDS, which is one of the strongest protein denaturants.
Related Concept Videos
SDS-PAGE
A variation of gel electrophoresis, termed polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), is commonly used for separating proteins according to their molecular size by passing them through a polyacrylamide gel. Because of the varying charges associated with amino acid side chains, PAGE can be used to separate intact...
Predator-Prey Interactions
Biodiversity and Human Values
Induced-fit Model
Enzymes exhibit substrate specificity, meaning that they can only bind to certain substrates. This is mainly determined by the shape and chemical...
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Induced Electric Dipoles
Since the absolute value of potential energy holds no physical meaning, its zero value can be chosen as per...

