Speaker：Yujie Shi (石玉洁) Yiming Yan (燕逸铭) Yongsu Wang (王泳苏)

Abstract:

Venomous animals like snakes, spiders and centipedes use toxins during their hunting and self-defense processes. These toxins, mostly small proteins or peptides, will target multiple vital pathways and lead to paralysis or death of the harmed animals. Many of the nerve toxins that act on ion channels will also elicit intense pain during the process. Studying of such toxins and the channels they interact with sheds light on functions and mechanisms of ion channels regarding the pain pathway (e.g. the TRP family, ASIC channels, and some voltage-gated ion channels). These studies also help to discover new ion channel targets and pharmacological tools for development of analgesic drugs. In this journal club, we will introduce the studies of natural toxins that react through the pain pathway, as well as their potential for development of analgesic drugs.

Guest information:

1. Dr. Yun Wang (PKU)

http://nri.bjmu.edu.cn/ktzjj/44185.htm

2. Dr. Yulong Li (PKU)

http://www.yulonglilab.org/group_cn.html

Recommend Literatures：

Review:

1. Bohlen, Christopher J., and David Julius. "Receptor-targeting mechanisms of pain-causing toxins: How ow?" Toxicon 60(3): 254-264 (2012).

Link：http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0041010112004424?via%3Dihub

Papers:

1.  Yang S., et al. A pain-inducing centipede toxin targets the heat activation machinery of noticeptor TRPV1. Nature communications 6: 8297 (2015).

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9297

2. Bohlen, C. J., et al. A heteromeric Texas coral snake toxin targets acid-sensing ion channels to produce pain. Nature 479(7373): 410-414 (2011).

Link: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10607