Title: Sarafotoxins

Additional Names: SRTx

Literature References: Family of vasoactive toxins isolated from the venom of the Israeli burrowing asp, Atractaspis engaddensis. Several isoforms exist, all are closely related in structure and biological activity to the mammalian endothelins, q.v.; both families show highly conserved sequences of 21 amino acids with 2 fixed disulfide bridges. Isoln: E. Kochva et al., Toxicon 20, 581 (1982). Purification of a-c: C. Takasaki et al., ibid. 26, 543 (1988); of d: A. Bdolah et al., FEBS Lett. 256, 1 (1989). Structure-activity study: A. M. Doherty et al., J. Cardiovasc. Pharmacol. 17, Suppl 7, S59 (1991). Conformational stability: A. R. Atkins et al., Int. J. Pept. Protein Res. 44, 372 (1994). Review of structure and evolution: E. Kochva et al., Toxicon 31, 541-568 (1993); of biological activity: M. Sokolovsky in Toxins and Signal Transduction, Y. Gutman, P. Lazarovici, Eds. (Harwood Academic Publishers, Netherlands, 1997) pp 53-67.