Click here to close
Hello! We notice that you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Xenbase and may cause the site to display incorrectly.
We suggest using a current version of Chrome,
FireFox, or Safari.
Toxins (Basel)
2013 May 21;55:1043-50. doi: 10.3390/toxins5051043.
Show Gene links
Show Anatomy links
Venomous secretions from marine snails of the Terebridae family target acetylcholine receptors.
Kendel Y, Melaun C, Kurz A, Nicke A, Peigneur S, Tytgat J, Wunder C, Mebs D, Kauferstein S.
???displayArticle.abstract???
Venoms from cone snails (Conidae) have been extensively studied during the last decades, but those from other members of the suborder Toxoglossa, such as of Terebridae and Turridae superfamilies attracted less interest so far. Here, we report the effects of venom and gland extracts from three species of the superfamily Terebridae. By 2-electrode voltage-clamp technique the gland extracts were tested on Xenopus oocytes expressing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) of rat neuronal (α3β2, α3β4, α4β2, α4β4, α7) and muscle subtypes (α1β1γδ), and expressing potassium (Kv1.2 and Kv1.3) and sodium channels (Nav1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6). The extracts were shown to exhibit remarkably high inhibitory activities on almost all nAChRs tested, in particular on the α7 subtype suggesting the presence of peptides of the A-superfamily from the venom of Conus species. In contrast, no effects on the potassium and sodium channels tested were observed. The venoms of terebrid snails may offer an additional source of novel biologically active peptides.
Figure 1. SEM-pictures of radula teeth from two Terebridae species, Terebra consobrina and T. argus.
Figure 2. Effects of Terebra consobrina venom gland extract (12.9 μg) on six nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtypes. 100 µM ACh or nicotine (in the case of the α7) were applied for 2 s in 4 min intervals. Two current responses before application of gland extracts, one response directly after extract application (horizontal bar, 3 min incubation) and two subsequent responses after washout of the extracts are shown for each subtype.
Aguilar,
Peptide pal9a from the venom of the turrid snail Polystira albida from the Gulf of Mexico: purification, characterization, and comparison with P-conotoxin-like (framework IX) conoidean peptides.
2009, Pubmed
Aguilar,
Peptide pal9a from the venom of the turrid snail Polystira albida from the Gulf of Mexico: purification, characterization, and comparison with P-conotoxin-like (framework IX) conoidean peptides.
2009,
Pubmed Biggs,
Alpha-conopeptides specifically expressed in the salivary gland of Conus pulicarius.
2008,
Pubmed Castelin,
Macroevolution of venom apparatus innovations in auger snails (Gastropoda; Conoidea; Terebridae).
2012,
Pubmed Gray,
Peptide toxins from Conus geographus venom.
1981,
Pubmed Heralde,
A rapidly diverging superfamily of peptide toxins in venomous Gemmula species.
2008,
Pubmed Holford,
Correlating molecular phylogeny with venom apparatus occurrence in Panamic auger snails (Terebridae).
2009,
Pubmed Imperial,
The augertoxins: biochemical characterization of venom components from the toxoglossate gastropod Terebra subulata.
2003,
Pubmed Imperial,
Venomous auger snail Hastula (Impages) hectica (Linnaeus, 1758): molecular phylogeny, foregut anatomy and comparative toxinology.
2007,
Pubmed López-Vera,
A novel structural class of toxins: the methionine-rich peptides from the venoms of turrid marine snails (Mollusca, Conoidea).
2004,
Pubmed Nicke,
Alpha-conotoxins as tools for the elucidation of structure and function of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes.
2004,
Pubmed Olivera,
Subtype-selective conopeptides targeted to nicotinic receptors: Concerted discovery and biomedical applications.
2008,
Pubmed Olivera,
Diversity of the neurotoxic Conus peptides: a model for concerted pharmacological discovery.
2007,
Pubmed Olivera,
Conus peptides: biodiversity-based discovery and exogenomics.
2006,
Pubmed Puillandre,
Starting to unravel the toxoglossan knot: molecular phylogeny of the "turrids" (Neogastropoda: Conoidea).
2008,
Pubmed Puillandre,
The Terebridae and teretoxins: Combining phylogeny and anatomy for concerted discovery of bioactive compounds.
2010,
Pubmed Santos,
The A-superfamily of conotoxins: structural and functional divergence.
2004,
Pubmed Seronay,
Accessing novel conoidean venoms: Biodiverse lumun-lumun marine communities, an untapped biological and toxinological resource.
2010,
Pubmed Terlau,
Conus venoms: a rich source of novel ion channel-targeted peptides.
2004,
Pubmed Watkins,
Genes expressed in a turrid venom duct: divergence and similarity to conotoxins.
2006,
Pubmed
