Nomenclature:
activity descriptors for naming peptide toxins
This page lists Greek symbols that have been proposed to denote toxin molecular targets or biological activities (King et al., 2008, Oliveira et al., 2012).
To retrieve toxins with these activities, see pharmacological target of venom proteins
Note that & and # show channels for which several different descriptors have been assigned due to the different modes of action of toxins.
| Back to Nomenclature | |
| Back to Pharmacological target of venom proteins |
| Channel/receptor | Descriptor | Biological function associated with descriptor |
| Ion channel (voltage-gated and ligand-gated) |
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| Voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channel & | β (beta) | Shifts voltage-dependence of Nav channel activation |
| Voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channel & | δ (delta) | Delays inactivation of voltage-activated Nav channels |
| Voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channel & | ι (iota) | Nav channel agonist |
| Voltage-gated sodium (Nav) channel & | μ (mu) | Inhibits voltage-activated sodium (Nav) channels |
| Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channel | κ (kappa) | Inhibits voltage-activated potassium (Kv) channels |
| Calcium-activated potassium (KCa) channel | λ (lambda) | Inhibits calcium-activated potassium (KCa) channels |
| Inward-rectifier potassium (KIR) channel | η (eta) | |
| Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) # | α (alpha) | Targets acetylcholine receptor |
| Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) # | ψ (psi) | Noncompetitive antagonist of acetylcholine receptor |
| Voltage-gated calcium (Cav) channel | ω (omega) | Inhibits voltage-gated calcium (Cav) channels |
| Ryanodine-sensitive calcium-release (RyR) channel | φ (phi) | |
| P2X receptor (P2RX) | Ο (OMICRON) | |
| Voltage-gated chloride (ClC) channel | ε (epsilon) | |
| CFTR channel | Σ (SIGMA) | |
| Ionotropic GABA receptor | Λ (LAMBDA) | |
| Ionotropic glutamate receptor | Γ (GAMMA) | |
| HCNa nonspecific cation channel | γ (gamma) | |
| Cyclic nucleotide-gated channel (CNG) | ζ (zeta) | |
| Transient receptor potential (TRP) channel | τ (tau) | |
| Acid-sensing ion (ASICs) channel (ACCN) | π (pi) | |
| 5-HT receptor | σ (sigma) | |
| receptor 7TM / G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) | ||
| Adipokinetic hormone/corazonin-related peptide (ACP) receptor | Z | |
| Adrenergic receptor | ρ (rho) | |
| Bradykinin receptor | ||
| Cholecystokinin receptor | ||
| Endothelin receptor | ξ (xi) | |
| Dopamine receptor | ||
| Glucagon-like peptide receptor | ||
| Melanocortin receptor | Ν (NU) | |
| Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor | ||
| Neurotensin receptor | ν (nu) | |
| Opioid receptor | ||
| Somatostatin receptor | ||
| Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide receptor | ||
| Vasopressin/oxytocin receptor | υ (upsilon) | |
| receptor 1TM | ||
| Vascular endothelial growth factor receptor (VEGFR) | ||
| Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) | Ω (OMEGA) | |
| Transporter | ||
| Noradrenaline transporter | χ (chi) | |
| Glutamate transporter | ||
| Other activity | ||
| Phospholipase A2 activity | A2 | |
| Cytolytic activity | Δ (DELTA) | |
| Activity on insect hemocytes | H | |
| Antimicrobial activity / Membrane perturbation activity | M | |
| Protease inhibition | PI | |
| Unknown activity | U | |
| Activity for which no toxin has been discovered yet | Two-pore domain potassium (K2P) channel (KCNK) | θ (theta) |
| Octopamine receptor | ο (omicron) |