Androctonus australis hector insect toxin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Names | |
|---|---|
| Other Names | AaHIT or AaIT |
| Subtypes | AaHIT1, AaHIT2, AaHIT4 and AaHIT5 |
| Source | |
| Latin name | Androctonus australis hector |
| English name | Sahara scorpion |
| Target | |
| Target channel | Voltage-gated sodium channels |
| Beta-insect excitatory toxin 1 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | |||||||
| Organism | |||||||
| Symbol | AaHIT1 | ||||||
| UniProt | P01497 | ||||||
| |||||||
| Scorpion toxin-like domain | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | |||||||||
| Symbol | Toxin_3 | ||||||||
| Pfam | PF00537 | ||||||||
| InterPro | IPR002061 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Androctonus australis hector insect toxin also known as AaHIT is a scorpion toxin which affects voltage-gated sodium channels. Four different insect toxins, namely AaHIT1, AaHIT2, AaHIT4 and AaHIT5, can be distinguished. It targets insects, except AaHIT4, which is also toxic to crustaceans and mammals.[1]
The first three words of Androctonus australis hector insect toxin stem from the Greek words Androctonus and Hector, and the Latin word australis. Androctonus means ‘man-killer’, whereas Hector has the meaning ‘to hold or to possess’ and australis means ‘south’, together constituting ‘the southern man-killer’.
Species distribution
AaHIT can be found in the venom of the North African scorpion, Androctonus australis hector, also known as the Sahara scorpion.
Structure
Mode of action
AaHIT specifically affects the voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSC) in insects. The effect of the toxin is excitatory since it shifts the voltage-dependent activation of the sodium channel to lower potentials.[4] This mode of action is comparable to those of beta-toxins. The insect-specific trait most likely derives from the presence of a specific structured loop in the insect VGSCs.[5] In spite of this, some research has shown that AaHIT4 specifically can affect the mammalian sodium channel by modulating alfa- and beta-type anti-mammal neurotoxins binding.[1]
