Screening for Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel Interacting Peptides

The voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) interacting peptide is of special interest for both basic research and pharmaceutical purposes. In this study, we established a yeast-two-hybrid based strategy to detect the interaction(s) between neurotoxic peptide and the extracellular region of VGSC. Using a previously reported neurotoxin JZTX-III as a model molecule, we demonstrated that the interactions between JZTX-III and the extracellular regions of its target hNa(v)1.5 are detectable and the detected interactions are directly related to its activity. We further applied this strategy to the screening of VGSC interacting peptides. Using the extracellular region of hNa(v)1.5 as the bait, we identified a novel sodium channel inhibitor SSCM-1 from a random peptide library. This peptide selectively inhibits hNa(v)1.5 currents in the whole-cell patch clamp assays. This strategy might be used for the large scale screening for target-specific interacting peptides of VGSCs or other ion channels.