CLONING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CDNAS ENCODING 3 ISOFORMS OF PHOSPHOLIPASE A(2) IN MALAYAN SPITTING COBRA (NAJA-NAJA SPUTATRIX) VENOM

A. Armugam, L. Earnest, M. C. M. Chung, P. Gopalakrishnakone, C. H. Ta n, N. H. Tan and K. Jeyaseelan. Cloning and characterization of cDNAs encoding three isoforms of phospholipase A(2) in Malayan spitting cobr a (Naja naja sputatrix) venom. Toxicon 35, 27-37, 1997.-cDNAs encoding three phospholipase A(2) (PLA(2)) isoforms in Naja naja sputatrix wer e cloned and characterized. One of them encoded an acidic PLA(2) (APLA ) while the others encoded neutral PLA(2) (NPLA-1 and NPLA-2). The spe cific characteristics of APLA and NPLA were attributed to mutations at nt139 and nt328 from G to C and G to A, respectively, resulting in am ino acid substitutions from Asp(20) and 83 in APLA to His(20) and Asn( 83) in NPLA. Amino acid sequencing of purified protein also showed the presence of this Asp(20) and His(20) in APLA and NPLA, respectively. The cDNA encoding one of the PLA(2) (NAJPLA-2A), when expressed in Esc herichia coli, yielded a protein that exhibited PLA(2) activity. Copyr ight (C) 1996 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.