Citation

Romeo C, Di Francesco L, Oliverio M, Palazzo P, Massilia GR, Ascenzi P, Polticelli F, Schininà ME. J. Sep. Sci. 2008; 31(3): 488-498.

Affiliation

Consorzio Interuniversitario'Istituto Nazionale Biostrutture e Biosistemi', Roma, Italy.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jssc.200700448

PMID

18266261

Abstract

Conus is a genus of predatory marine gastropods that poison the prey with a complex mixture of compounds active on muscle and nerve cells. An individual cone snail's venom contains a mixture of pharmacological agents, mostly short, structurally constrained peptides. This study is focused on the composition of the venom employed by Conus ventricosus Gmelin, 1791, a worm-hunting cone snail living in the Mediterranean Sea. For this purpose, LC coupled to MS techniques has been successfully used to establish qualitative and quantitative differences in conopeptides from minute amounts of venom ducts. We were able to prove variability in the venom conopeptide complement, possibly related to different trophic habits of the species in the Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, the information-rich MS techniques enabled us to identify two novel C. ventricosus peptides, here named Conotoxin-Vn and alpha-Conotoxin-Vn. On the basis of the structural data collected so far, we suggest that Conotoxin-Vn is a conopeptide belonging to the omega-family that recognizes calcium channels through a specific pharmacophore. Similarly, molecular modeling data suggest that alpha-Conotoxin-Vn should represent a competitive antagonist of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs).

Language: en