Characterization of a novel proteinous toxin from sea anemone actineria villosa

Abstract

The sea anemone Actineria villosa expresses a lethal protein toxin. We isolated a novel 120-kDa protein, Avt120, from partially purified toxin and found it to possess extremely strong lethal activity. The 3,453-bp Avt120 gene translates to a 995-amino acid protein. The 50% lethal dose (LD50) of purified Avt120 in mice was 85.17 ng. Among several tested cell lines, Colo205 cells were most sensitive to Avt120: 50% of them were damaged by 38.4 ng/mL Avt120. Avt120 exerted ATP degradation activity (10 lmol ATP h-1 mg-1), which was strongly inhibited by ganglioside GM1 to decrease the cytotoxicity of Avt120. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.