Isolation and characterization of a protein neurotoxin from the venom glands of the funnel-web spider (Atrax robustus).

1. Ground venom glands from male and female funnel-web spiders (Atrax robustus) were extracted with acetic acid (0.35 M). 2. A protein constituent of these extracts, atraxin, which caused muscle fasciculation when applied to the phrenic nerve-hemidiaphragm of the mouse in vitro, was isolated by the sequential application of ultrafiltration, gel permeation and ion exchange chromatography. 3. When subjected to isoelectricfocusing, amino acid analysis, ultracentrifugation, ultraviolet and 1H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, it was shown that atraxin had an approximate molecular weight of 9800, an isoelectric point of greater than 9 and that it contained 76 amino acid residues.