Rational attenuation of elapid long-chain neurotoxin by targeted residue substitution and disulfide architecture simplification: implications for receptor interaction and immune recognition

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  Rational attenuation of elapid long-chain neurotoxin by targeted residue substitution and disulfide architecture simplification: implications for receptor interaction and immune recognition Abstract Elapid long-chain neurotoxins (LNTxs) exert their toxicity through high-affinity binding to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). Specific residues mediate this process, including basic (Lys23, Arg33, Arg36, Lys49), structural (Cys26, Cys30), and aromatic (Phe29) amino acids. To investigate the functional and immunogenic implications of modifying these residues, we designed two recombinant variants of a consensus LNTx. The first variant, rLcNTx V1, contains charge-reversal mutations at four key basic positions, while the second, rLcNTx V2, lacks the segment corresponding to the fifth disulfide bond. We expressed both variants in Escherichia coli Origami cells. rLcNTx V1 was recovered in a soluble form, but rLcNTx V2 was present only in inclusion bodies. We assessed the binding ...

On the identity of Pardosa consimilis Nosek, 1905 with a first description of the male and notes on two related species (Araneae: Lycosidae)

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On the identity of Pardosa consimilis Nosek, 1905 with a first description of the male and notes on two related species (Araneae: Lycosidae)

Abstract 


More than a hundred years after its description in 1905, the wolf spider Pardosa consimilis Nosek, 1905 was known solely from the original description of a single female, the holotype. In the last decade there were reports of the species from Bulgaria. Several reports followed with possible records of the yet-unknown males but they were not described; these came from four countries at least: North Macedonia, Georgia, Albania and most recently from Iran. Pardosa consimilis belongs to the monticola group and can be assigned to separate albatula-complex. The aim of this article is to provide a description for the male of Pardosa consimilis for the first time and to redescribe the female, in comparison with its closest congeners P. albatula (Roewer, 1951) and P. blanda (C. L. Koch, 1833).

Naumova, M. & Deltshev, C. (2023). On the identity of Pardosa consimilis Nosek, 1905 with a first description of the male and notes on two related species (Araneae: Lycosidae). Zootaxa 5352(4): 553-564. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5352.4.6