toxins Article Three-Finger Toxins from Brazilian Coral Snakes: From Molecular Framework to Insights in Biological Function Jessica Matos Kleiz-Ferreira 1,2, Nuria Cirauqui 3, Edson Araujo Trajano 1,2, Marcius da Silva Almeida 2 and Russolina Benedeta Zingali 1,* 1 Laboratório de Hemostase e Venenos—Instituto de Bioquímica Médica, Leopoldo de Meis (IBqM) and Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia de Biologia Estrutural e Bioimagem (Inbeb)—Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro 21941-902, Brazil;
[email protected] (J.M.K.-F.);
[email protected] (E.A.T.) 2 Protein Advanced Biochemistry (PAB), Instituto de Bioquímica Médica Leopoldo de Meis (IBqM) and Centro Nacional de Biologia Estrutural e Bioimagem (CENABIO), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-902, Brazil;
[email protected] 3 Faculdade de Farmacia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro 21941-902, Brazil;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected] Abstract: Studies on 3FTxs around the world are showing the amazing diversity in these proteins both in structure and function. In Brazil, we have not realized the broad variety of their amino acid sequences and probable diversified structures and targets. In this context, this work aims to conduct an in silico systematic study on available 3FTxs found in Micrurus species from Brazil. We elaborated a specific guideline for this toxin family. First, we grouped them according to their structural homologue predicted by HHPred server and further curated manually. For each group, we selected one sequence and constructed a representative structural model.