Preview

PDF Restricted - Request a copy 843Kb

Venom of the Australian ant species Myrmecia pilosula contains a number of allergenic peptides including pilosulins. To obtain novel cDNA clones that encode the pilosulin-related bioactive peptides, mRNA of M. pilosula species complex was subjected to RT-PCR in which the forward primer corresponds to a nucleotide sequence in the leader sequences of pilosulins. We isolated a cDNA clone encoding the novel bioactive peptide pilosulin 5. Tandem mass analysis was entirely consistent with the cDNA derived sequence, and indicated that pilosulin 5 is connected by a single disulfide bridge to create a dimmer peptide of 8546 Da. Synthetic pilosulin 5 peptide caused a significant histamine release in a dose-dependent manner, and the mastoparan homologous region of pilosulin 5 was responsible for the activity

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	Ant, Pilosulin, Myrmecia pilosula, Histamine-releasing activity
Research Division:	Biomedical and Clinical Sciences
Research Group:	Immunology
Research Field:	Allergy
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Clinical health
Objective Field:	Clinical health not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Wiese, M (Associate Professor Michael Wiese)
UTAS Author:	Davies, NW (Associate Professor Noel Davies)
ID Code:	52786
Year Published:	2008
Web of Science® Times Cited:	28
Deposited By:	Central Science Laboratory
Deposited On:	2008-08-01
Last Modified:	2009-11-11
Downloads:	0