Authors : Ghafar Eskandari, Abbas Jolodar and Nabiallah Khoonmirzaei
Abstract: Many studies have been carried out on peptides and genes encoding scorpion toxins from the venom of the scorpion Mesobuthus eupeus. The scorpion venom contains a diversity of bioactive peptides which could cause toxic effects and can be candidates for drug design and development. The anti-microbial lysozymes among them are of great value. Lysozymes are hydrolytic enzymes characterized by the ability to cleave the β-(1, 4)-glycosidic bond between N-acetylmuramic acid and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine in a peptidoglycan layer, the major bacterial cell wall polymer. The total RNA was extracted from venom glands of Mesobuthus eupeus species of Kuzestan. cDNA was synthesized with extracted total RNA as template and modified oligo (dT) as primer. In order to amplify cDNA encoding a Lys-C peptide, semi-nested RT-PCR was performed with the specific primers followed by sequencing of the amplified fragment. The full-length cDNA sequence contains a 438 nucleotide open reading frame encoding a peptide of 144 amino acids with molecular weight of 16.702 kDa. A putative 22-residue signal peptide was identified. Based on the phylogenetic tree of MesoLys-C and c-type lysozyme of East Mediterranean M. eupeus it is concluded that M. eupeus of Khuzestan and East Mediterranean M. eupeus belong to different subspecies.
Ghafar Eskandari, Abbas Jolodar and Nabiallah Khoonmirzaei, 2011. Phylogenetic Analysis of Lysozyme C from the Scorpion Mesobuthus eupeus Venom Gland. Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 6: 9-11.