K+ channel blockers of scorpion venoms are of important value in studying p
harmacology and physiology of specific K+ channel of cells. Based on the am
ino acid sequences of BmP01 previously characterized as a small-conductance
Ca2+-activated K+ channel blocker, two "back to back" degenarate primers h
ave been designed and synthesized for inverse PCR strategy, its full-length
cDNA has been cloned from the venom gland of the Chinese scorpion Buthus m
artensii. The cDNA is composed of 3 parts: 5' UTR, ORF and 3' UTR. The flan
king sequence of translation initiation codon ATG is AAAATGA, which is high
ly conserved in scorpion Na+ channel toxin and protozoan genes, suggesting
that these genes may have followed a common mechanism for translation initi
ation. The 3' UTR contains poly(A) signal AATAAA. The open reading frame en
codes a precursor of 57 residues with a signal peptide of 28 residues and a
mature peptide of 29 residues. The signal peptide is rich in hydrophobic a
mino acid residues and its length is significantly different from that of t
he determined scorpion Na+ channel toxin. The deduced amino acid sequence o
f mature peptide is completely consistent with BmP01 previously determined
by primary structure analysis.