COMPOSITION FOR ISOLATING APAMIN RECEPTORS, APAMIN BINDING PROTEIN, AND USES THEREOF

摘要

COMPOSITION FOR ISOLATING APAMIN RECEPTORS, APAMIN BINDING PROTEIN, AND USES THEREOF The present invention relates to a compositon of matter useful as an affinity matrix for isolating an apamin receptor from cellular material, comprising a derivatized agerose matrix having a free amino group covalently coupled to a free carboxyl group of apamin. It additionally relates to a protein, isolated from a vertebrate tissue sample, of approximately 80 KDa which specifically binds apamin, and to an approximately 55 KDa presumed degradation product of said protein, as well as antibodies which bind to said protein or to the presumed degradation product. The invention further relates to an isolated nucleic acid fragment, comprising a nucleic acid sequence encoding an apamin receptor protein, or a biologically active fragment thereof; and to host cells comprising said nucleic acid fragment.