Non-Peptidic Small Molecule Components from Cone Snail Venoms

Research output: Contribution to journalReviewResearchpeer-review

Documents

  • Zhenjian Lin
  • Joshua P. Torres
  • Maren Watkins
  • Noemi Paguigan
  • Changshan Niu
  • Julita S. Imperial
  • Jortan Tun
  • Helena Safavi-Hemami
  • Rocio K. Finol-Urdaneta
  • Jorge L. B. Neves
  • Samuel Espino
  • Manju Karthikeyan
  • Baldomero M. Olivera
  • Eric W. Schmidt

Venomous molluscs (Superfamily Conoidea) comprise a substantial fraction of tropical marine biodiversity (>15,000 species). Prior characterization of cone snail venoms established that bioactive venom components used to capture prey, defend against predators and for competitive interactions were relatively small, structured peptides (10-35 amino acids), most with multiple disulfide crosslinks. These venom components ("conotoxins, conopeptides") have been widely studied in many laboratories, leading to pharmaceutical agents and probes. In this review, we describe how it has recently become clear that to varying degrees, cone snail venoms also contain bioactive non-peptidic small molecule components. Since the initial discovery of genuanine as the first bioactive venom small molecule with an unprecedented structure, a broad set of cone snail venoms have been examined for non-peptidic bioactive components. In particular, a basal clade of cone snails (Stephanoconus) that prey on polychaetes produce genuanine and many other small molecules in their venoms, suggesting that this lineage may be a rich source of non-peptidic cone snail venom natural products. In contrast to standing dogma in the field that peptide and proteins are predominantly used for prey capture in cone snails, these small molecules also contribute to prey capture and push the molecular diversity of cone snails beyond peptides. The compounds so far characterized are active on neurons and thus may potentially serve as leads for neuronal diseases. Thus, in analogy to the incredible pharmacopeia resulting from studying venom peptides, these small molecules may provide a new resource of pharmacological agents.

Original languageEnglish
Article number655981
JournalFrontiers in Pharmacology
Volume12
Number of pages12
ISSN1663-9812
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

    Research areas

  • secondary metabolites, conus, gastropod, prey capture, conopeptides, natural products, venom, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, CHOLINE ESTERS, MARINE, METABOLITES, SEROTONIN, REVEALS, RELEASE, CONOTOXINS, PRECURSORS, GASTROPODA, PHEROMONE

Number of downloads are based on statistics from Google Scholar and www.ku.dk


No data available

ID: 274970846