Proteins in scorpion venoms toxic to mammals and insects.

Abstract

Abstract The crude venoms of the scorpions Androctonus aeneas aeneas , Androctonus amoreuxi , Androctonus mauretanicus mauretanicus , Buthus occitanus pairs , Buthus occitanus tunetanus and Leiurus quinquestriatus were submitted to starch gel zone electrophoresis. The eluates of gel sections were assayed for mice lethality, contraction-paralysis of fly larvae and larvae lethality. It has been found that: (1) All the venoms contain discrete components showing a specific toxicity to mice and to fly larvae. (2) Three of the venoms contain more than one larvae contraction-paralysis component. (3) At pH 8·6, most of the mice toxic components have a cathodic mobility whereas the majority of larvae toxic components migrate towards the anode. (4) All the larvae contraction-paralysis components are strongly lethal to fly larvae and are inactivated by trypsin, thus demonstrating their protein nature. (5) The venoms of A. a. aeneas and B. o. tunetanus contain factions of fast anodic mobility which are lethal to fly larvae but lack the larvae contraction-paralysis and the mice lethal activities. It is concluded that the presence of a variety of toxic proteins specifically active on different animals is a general property of scorpion venoms.