Discovery of Peptide-based Inhibitors against Dendrotoxin B from Black Mamba through Phage Display Screening

The black mamba (Dendroaspis polylepis) is Africa’s most feared snake due to its potent, rapidacting venom and its speed of attack. The most abundant toxins in D. polylepis venom are the Kunitz-type proteinase inhibitors, dendrotoxins, which are unique for mamba. Dendrotoxinsare poorly neutralized by current antivenoms, and they are almost impossible to raise an immune response against due to their similarity to homologous mammalian, non-toxic proteins.

Here,we report the discovery of peptide-based antitoxins against dendrotoxin B from D. polylepis through phage display screening.