A new species of the mygalomorph spider genus Euagrus Ausserer (Araneae: Euagridae) from central Mexico and new records of E. gus Coyle from Tlaxcala

Posted by
  A new species of the mygalomorph spider genus Euagrus Ausserer (Araneae: Euagridae) from central Mexico and new records of E. gus Coyle from Tlaxcala Abstract  A new species of the spider genus Euagrus Ausserer, 1875 from temperate pine-oak forests in the states of Tlaxcala and Hidalgo, Mexico is described: E. pulque sp. nov. The description of the new species is based on male and female adult specimens. Additionally, Euagrus gus Coyle, 1988 is recorded for the very first time in the state of Tlaxcala. These species have sympatric distributions in La Malinche National Park, Tlaxcala. With this description, the diversity of the genus increases to 23 species, with Mexico harboring the highest diversity with 17 described species.  Valdez-Mondragón, A., Salinas-Velasco, H. V. & Bueno-Villegas, J. (2026). A new species of the mygalomorph spider genus Euagrus Ausserer (Araneae: Euagridae) from central Mexico and new records of E. gus Coyle from Tlaxcala. Zootaxa 5810 (...

Purification and Characterization of Two Neurotoxins BmKNT1 and BmKNT2 from the Scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch venom

Posted by

 


Purification and Characterization of Two Neurotoxins BmKNT1 and BmKNT2 from the Scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch venom

Abstract

Scorpion venom is a heterogeneous mixture of proteins and peptides, many of which have multiple bioactivities, including antitumor activity, modulation of ion channels, analgesia, and anti-inflammatory effects. This study, two peptides named BmKNT1 and BmKNT2 were isolated and purified from the Buthus martensii Karsch (BmK) venom by gel filtration chromatography (GFC), ion-exchange chromatography (IEC) and Reverse phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), respectively. The primary structure of BmKNT1 (69 amino acid residues, theoretical pI/Mw: 7.66/7660.5 Da) and BmKNT2 (64 amino acid residues, theoretical pI/Mw: 6.05/7270.33) were determined by a combination of Edman degradation and MALDI-TOF-MS/MS sequencing analysis. It showed a high similarity to that of other scorpion neurotoxins. The Effects of both neurotoxins on Na+-channel, K+-channel and Ca2+-channel in rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) were determined at 100 μg/ml. The results showed BmKNT2 had inhibitory activity on K+-channels expressed on DRG cells, which is a typical characteristic of voltage-gated potassium channel pore area inhibitors. On the contrary, BmKNT1 has activation activity on the K+-channel in rat DRG, and both toxins have inhibitory activity on Ca2+-channels in rat DRG.
Ali, Y., Fazliddinov, S., Hu, A., Dongmulati, N., He, H., Yang, Z., Gao, Y., Wali, A., Aisa, H. A., Mirzaakhmedov, S., Asrorov, A., & Yili, A. (2026). Purification and Characterization of Two Neurotoxins BmKNT1 and BmKNT2 from the Scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch venom. Toxicon, 109014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxicon.2026.109014