Diamphotoxin

Diamphotoxin is a toxin produced by larvae and pupae of the beetle genus Diamphidia. Diamphotoxin is a hemolytic, cardiotoxic, and highly labile single-chain polypeptide bound to a protein that protects it from deactivation.[1][2][3]

Diamphotoxin
Identifiers
ChemSpider
  • none
MeSH diamphotoxin
Properties
Molar mass ~ 60,000 g/mol
Except where otherwise noted, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C [77 °F], 100 kPa).
Infobox references

Diamphotoxin increases the permeability of cell membranes of red blood cells. Although this does not affect the normal flow of ions between cells, it allows all small ions to pass through cell membranes easily, which fatally disrupts the cells' ion levels.[4] Although diamphotoxin has no neurotoxic effect, its hemolytic effect is lethal, and may reduce hemoglobin levels by as much as 75%.[5]

The San people of Southern Africa use diamphotoxin as an arrow poison for hunting game.[1] The toxin paralyses muscles gradually. Large mammals hunted in this way die slowly from a small injection of the poison.[6]

Several leaf beetles species of genus Leptinotarsa produce a similar toxin, leptinotarsin.[6]

See also

References
  1. de la Harpe, J.; Reich, E.; Reich, K. A.; Dowdle, E. B. (October 1983). "Diamphotoxin. The arrow poison of the !Kung Bushmen". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 258 (19): 11924–31. PMID 6311829. Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  2. Mebs, D.; Brüning, F.; Pfaff, N.; Neuwinger, H. D. (July 1982). "Preliminary studies on the chemical properties of the toxic principle from Diamphidia nigroornata larvae, a source of Bushman arrow poison". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 6 (1): 1–11. doi:10.1016/0378-8741(82)90068-X. PMID 7109661.
  3. Woollard, J. M.; Fuhrman, F. A.; Mosher, H. S. (1984). "The Bushman arrow toxin, Diamphidia toxin: Isolation from pupae of Diamphidia nigro-ornata". Toxicon. 22 (6): 937–46. doi:10.1016/0041-0101(84)90185-5. PMID 6523515.
  4. Jacobsen, T. F.; Sand, O.; Bjøro, T.; Karlsen, H. E.; Iversen, J. G. (1990). "Effect of Diamphidia toxin, a Bushman arrow poison, on ionic permeability in nucleated cells". Toxicon. 28 (4): 435–44. doi:10.1016/0041-0101(90)90082-i. PMID 2161574.
  5. Kao, C. Y.; Salwen, M. J.; Hu, S. L.; Pitter, H. M.; Woollard, J. M. (1989). "Diamphidia toxin, the Bushmen's arrow poison: Possible mechanism of prey-killing". Toxicon. 27 (12): 1351–66. doi:10.1016/0041-0101(89)90067-6. PMID 2629177.
  6. Chaboo, Caroline (2011). "Defensive behaviors in leaf beetles: From the unusual to the weird" (PDF). In Weir, Tiffany; Vivanco, Jorge M. (eds.). Chemical Biology of the Tropics: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Signaling and Communication in Plants. Berlin: Springer Verlag. pp. 59–69. ISBN 978-3-642-19079-7. OCLC 706961677. Retrieved 4 July 2013.

Further reading
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