Expression and characterization of Flag-epitope- and hexahistidine-tagged derivatives of saxiphilin for use in detection and assay of saxitoxin

Expression, purification, and characterization of anuran saxiphilins using thermofluor, fluorescence polarization, and isothermal titration calorimetry

Anuran saxiphilins (Sxphs) are "toxin sponge" proteins thought to prevent the lethal effects of small-molecule neurotoxins through sequestration. Here, we present a protocol for the expression, purification, and characterization of Sxphs. We describe steps for using thermofluor, fluorescence polarization, and isothermal titration calorimetry assays that probe Sxph:saxitoxin interactions using a range of sample quantities. These assays are generalizable and can be used for other paralytic shellfish poisoning toxin-binding proteins. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Chen et al. (2022).1.

Dynamics of saxitoxin binding to saxiphilin c-lobe reveals conformational change

Thermodynamic parameters (DeltaG, DeltaH, DeltaS, DeltaC(p)) have been determined to evaluate the dynamics of binding of saxitoxin to the c-lobe of saxiphilin. We have developed an improved method to rapidly express and purify recombinant saxiphilin c-lobe, and fully characterized it by mass spectrometry for the first time. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was used to characterize the interaction between saxitoxin and immobilized c-lobe. At 298 K, c-lobe binds saxitoxin with K(D)=1.2 nM, DeltaH degrees =-11.7+/-0.8 kcal/mol, and DeltaS degrees =1.17+/-0.07 cal/molK. Analysis of DeltaC(p) of toxin association at several temperatures suggests that hydrophobic forces contribute to the binding event. Additionally, changes in 8-anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonic acid (ANS) fluorescence upon binding to c-lobe in the presence and absence of saxitoxin support a conformational change in c-lobe upon saxitoxin binding.

A rapid detection method for paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins by cell bioassay

We report here a rapid detection method for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins using a cultured neuroblastoma cell line, modified from the bioassay system previously established by Manger et al. [Manger, R.L., Leja, L.S., Lee, S.Y., Hungerford, J.M., Kirkpatrick, M.A., Yasumoto, T., Wekell, M.M., 2003. Detection of paralytic shellfish poison by rapid cell bioassay: antagonism of voltage-gated sodium channel active toxins in vitro. J. AOAC Int. 86 (3), 540-543]. In the present study, we made two major modifications to the previous method. The first is the use of maitotoxin, a marine toxin of ciguatera fish poisoning, which enables the incubation period to be reduced to 6 h when applied to the microplate 15 min prior to the end of the incubation. The second is the use of WST-8, a dehydrogenase detecting water-soluble tetrazolium salt for determining the target cell viability, which permits the omission of a washing step and simplifies the counting process. In addition, we attempted to reduce the required materials as much as possible. Thus, our modified method should be useful for screening the PSP-toxins from shellfish.