Send Orders for Reprints to
[email protected] 28 Mini-Reviews in Organic Chemistry, 2014, 11, 28-44 Structural, Functional and Therapeutic Aspects of Snake Venom Metal- loproteinases P. Chellapandi* Department of Bioinformatics, School of Life Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli-620024, Tamil Nadu, India Abstract: Snake venoms are rich sources of metalloproteinases that are of biological interest due to their diverse molecu- lar diversity and selective therapeutic applications. Snake venoms metalloproteinases (SVMPs) belong to the MEROPS peptidase family M12B or reprolysin subfamily, which are consisted of four major domains include a reprolysin catalytic domain, a disintegrin domain, a reprolysin family propeptide domain and a cysteine-rich domain. The appropriate struc- tural and massive sequences information have been available for SVMPs family of enzymes in the Protein Data Bank and National Center for Biotechnology Information, respectively. Functional essentiality of every domain and a crucial contri- bution of binding geometry, primary specificity site, and structural motifs have been studied in details, pointing the way for designing potential anti-coagulation, antitumor, anti-complementary and anti-inflammatory drugs or peptides. These enzymes have been reported to degrade fibrinogen, fibrin and collagens, and to prevent progression of clot formation. An- giotensin-converting enzyme activity, antibacterial properties, haemorrhagic activity and platelet aggregation response of SVMPs have been studied earlier. Structural information of these enzymes together with recombinant DNA technology would strongly promote the construction of many recombinant therapeutic peptides, particularly fibrinogenases and vac- cines. We have comprehensively reviewed the structure-function-evolution relationships of SVMPs family proteins and their advances in the promising target models for structure-based inhibitors and peptides design.