Molecular mechanism of scorpion neurotoxins acting on sodium channels: insight into their diverse selectivity.

Scorpion toxins that affect sodium channel gating traditionally are divided into alpha- and beta-classes. They show vast diversity in their selectivity for phyletic- or isoform-specific sodium channels. This article discusses the molecular mechanism of the selectivity. Moreover, a phylogenetic tree of scorpion toxins has been constructed, which, together with the worldwide distribution of toxins and the zoogeographic dispersion of the studied genera, offers an insight into the evolution of diverse scorpion toxins.