In Silico Binding Mode Analysis of <i>Blarina</i> Paralytic Peptides with the Human T-Type Ca Channel hCa_v3.2.

ABSTRACT: Blarina paralytic peptides (BPPs), neurotoxins from shrew saliva that paralyze mealworms, share high sequence similarity with human synenkephalin [1-53] (hSYN), a peptide released from proenkephalin together with opioid peptides that mediate analgesic and antidepressant effects in the brain. Both synthetic BPP2 and hSYN induce a hyperpolarizing shift in the human T-type voltage-gated calcium channel (hCa_v3.2) at sub-micromolar concentrations, although only BPP2 causes paralysis in insects. To gain insight into the functions of these insectivorous animal-specific neurotoxins and the largely uncharacterized brain peptides, we investigated the structure prediction of BPPs and SYNs and their interactions with hCa_v3.2. AlphaFold 3 modeling complemented available cry

SUBMITTER: Hara N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12656432 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature