Abstract Our previous study showed that KChIP3 (Kv Channel Interacting Protein 3) probably was a physiological targete protein of beta-bungarotoxin (beta-Bgt) as evidenced by yeast two-hybrid system. Thus, extensive efforts are carried out to explore the molecular interaction between KChIP3 and beta-Bgt in the present study. KChIPs are potassium (Kv) channel-interacting proteins that bind to the 1~90 amino acid of N-terminus of Kv4 alpha-subunits and regulate the ion current density, shift the voltage dependence of activation and speed their recovery from inactivation. beta-Bgt, a presynaptic neurotoxin purified from Bungarus multicinctus venom, consists of A chain and B chain which cross-linked by an interchain disulfide bond. The results of pull-down assay revealed that, in contrast to other KChIP proteins, KChIP3 bound with beta-Bgt. Moreover, it was found that the B chain of beta-Bgt was a functional subunit in the binding with KChIP3, and the binding of KChIP3 to beta-Bgt showed a Ca2+-dependent manner. Removal of the third and the fourth EF-hand regions of KChIP3 abolished its interaction with beta-Bgt. Noticeably, the binding of beta-Bgt with KChIP3 did not influence the interaction between KChIP3 and Kv4. In the meantime, rat brain KChIP3 could be isolated using a beta-Bgt-Sepharose column. These observations suggest that KChIP3 is an intra-cellular target recognized by beta-Bgt. Accidently, it was found that direct protein-protein interaction between Taiwan cobra cardiotoxin3 (CTX3) and potassium channel-interacting proteins (KChIPs) was investigated. It was found that KChIPs bound with CTX3, in which KChIP1 and CTX3 formed a 1:1 complex as evidenced by the results of chemical crosslinking. Pull-down assay revealed that the intact EF-hand 3 and 4 of KChIP1 was critical for CTX3-binding. Whereas, all mutated KChIP3 were able to bind with CTX3. In contrast to the interaction between KChIP1 and KvN, the binding of CTX3 to KChIP1 showed a Ca2+-independent manner. Fluorescence measurement revealed that CTX3 affected the binding of ANS to Ca2+-bound KChIP1, but not Ca2+-free KChIP1. Alternatively, KChIP1 simultaneously bound with KvN and CTX3, and the interaction between KChIP1 and KvN was enhanced by CTX3. In terms of the fact that KChIPs regulate the electrophysiological properties of Kv K+ channel, the potentiality of beta-bgt and CTX for this biomedical application could be considered.

beta-Bungarotoxin (beta-Bgt), the presynaptic neurotoxin purified from the venom of Bungarus multicinctus, consists of the A chain and the B chain, cross-linked by an interchain disulfide bond. In this study, two novel beta-Bgt isotoxins were purified from Bungarus multicinctus venom by the combinations of ion-exchange chromatography and reverse phase HPLC. Amino acid sequencing, peptide mapping and mass analyses revealed that they probably contained the same A chain, but their B chain differed. Consequently, the discrepancies in their biological activity and fine structure reflected the role of B chain in intact of beta-Bgt. In Yeast-Two-Hybrid system, a potassium channel binding protein was identified to interact with the B chain of beta-Bgt. Although the recombinant potassium channel binding protein functionally bound with Ca2+, but it could not prove to bind with BM12 and BM13 as revealed by in vitro cross-linking assay. The A chain genes including A1 chain, A2 chain and A8 chain genes were amplified by PCR reaction. Their nucleotide sequences shared up to 97.5% identity. Alignment of the determined A chain genes with A chain cDNAs revealed that the A1 chain gene was organized with four exon and three intron, while A2 chain gene comprised three exons and two introns. When A2 chain is expressed, the region corresponds to the first exon of A1 chain gene is skipped instead of inclusion of intronic sequence adjacent to the second intron. The resulting A2 chain mRNA encoded a 25 residues signal peptide, which different from A1 chain mRNA with a 27 residues signal peptide. Comparative analyses on phospholipase A2 genes and cDNAs suggest that this is the first report on skipping of exon changes the signal peptide sequence of snake venom proteins.