PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Cody Gillman
AU  - Khushboo Patel
AU  - Johan Unge
AU  - Tamir Gonen
TI  - The structure of the neurotoxin palytoxin determined by MicroED
AID  - 10.1101/2023.03.31.535166
DP  - 2023 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2023.03.31.535166
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/06/01/2023.03.31.535166.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/06/01/2023.03.31.535166.full
AB  - Palytoxin (PTX) is a potent neurotoxin found in marine animals that can cause serious symptoms such as muscle contractions, haemolysis of red blood cells and potassium leakage. Despite years of research, very little is known about the mechanism of PTX. However, recent advances in the field of cryoEM, specifically the use of microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED), have allowed us to determine the structure of PTX. It was discovered that PTX folds into a hairpin motif and is able to bind to the extracellular gate of Na,K-ATPase, which is responsible for maintaining the electrochemical gradient across the plasma membrane. These findings, along with molecular docking simulations, have provided important insights into the mechanism of PTX and can potentially aid in the development of molecular agents for treating cases of PTX exposure.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.