Snake venom galactoside-binding lectins: a structural and functional overview

AbstractSnake venom galactoside-binding lectins (SVgalLs) comprise a class of toxins capable of recognizing and interacting with terminal galactoside residues of glycans. In the past 35 years, since the first report on the purification of thrombolectin from Bothrops atrox snake venom, several SVgalLs from Viperidae and Elapidae snake families have been described, as has progressive improvement in the investigation of structural/functional aspects of these lectins. Moreover, the advances of techniques applied in protein-carbohydrate recognition have provided important approaches in order to screen for possible biological targets. The present review describes the efforts over the past 35 years to elucidate SVgalLs, highlighting their structure and carbohydrate recognition function involved in envenomation pathophysiology and potential biomedical applications.

摘要：蛇毒半乳糖苷结合凝集素（Snake venom galactoside-binding lectins, SVgalLs）是一类能够识别并结合聚糖末端半乳糖苷残基的毒素。自35年前首次从矛头蝮（Bothrops atrox）蛇毒中纯化出凝血凝集素以来，学界已先后从蝰科（Viperidae）与眼镜蛇科（Elapidae）的蛇类中报道了多种SVgalLs，针对这类凝集素结构与功能的研究亦不断推进。此外，蛋白质-糖类识别相关技术的进步，为潜在生物靶点的筛选提供了重要研究手段。本综述梳理了过去35年间解析SVgalLs的相关研究工作，重点阐述其结构特征、参与蛇毒中毒病理生理过程的糖类识别功能，以及潜在的生物医学应用价值。