| alpha4/7-conotoxin lp1.1 is a novel antagonist of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. | cone snails comprise approximately 700 species of venomous molluscs which have evolved the ability to generate multiple toxins with varied and exquisite selectivity. alpha-conotoxin is a powerful tool for defining the composition and function of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors which play a crucial role in excitatory neurotransmission and are important targets for drugs and insecticides. an alpha4/7 conotoxin, lp1.1, originally identified by cdna and genomic dna cloning from conus leopardus, wa ... | 2008 | 18588930 |
| chemical synthesis and characterization of two α4/7-conotoxins. | α-conotoxins are small disulfide-constrained peptides that act as potent and selective antagonists on specific subtypes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nachrs). we previously cloned two α-conotoxins, mr1.1 from the molluscivorous conus marmoreus and lp1.4 from the vermivorous conus leopardus. both of them have the typical 4/7-type framework of the subfamily of α-conotoxins that act on neuronal nachrs. in this work, we chemically synthesized these two toxins and characterized their function ... | 2010 | 20801929 |
| four new records of conidae (mollusca: caenogastropoda) from the andaman islands, india. | the andaman and nicobar archipelago comprises 572 islands spread over an area of 8,249 sq. km. these islands are within the 'indo-malayan region' and near the 'faunistic centre' from which other indo-west pacific regions recruit their tropical marine fauna (ekman, 1953). the topographically complex nature of the nearshore environments of these islands creates a plethora of niches that support a rich and diverse molluscan fauna. many of the conus species (e.g., c. geographus linnaeus, 1758; c. mi ... | 2013 | 26097933 |
| two different groups of signal sequence in m-superfamily conotoxins. | m-superfamily conotoxins can be divided into four branches (m-1, m-2, m-3 and m-4) according to the number of amino acid residues in the third cys loop. in general, it is widely accepted that the conotoxin signal peptides of each superfamily are strictly conserved. recently, we cloned six cdnas of novel m-superfamily conotoxins from conus leopardus, conus marmoreus and conus quercinus, belonging to either m-1 or m-3 branch. these conotoxins, judging from the putative peptide sequences deducted f ... | 2008 | 18242657 |
| evolution of ecological specialization and venom of a predatory marine gastropod. | understanding the evolution of ecological specialization is important for making inferences about the origins of biodiversity. members of the predatory, marine gastropod genus conus exhibit a variety of diets and the ability to capture prey is linked to a venom comprised of peptide neurotoxins, termed conotoxins. we identified conotoxin transcripts from conus leopardus, a species of conus that uniquely preys exclusively on hemichordates, and compared its venom duct transcriptome to that of four ... | 2008 | 18221274 |
| characterization of novel m-superfamily conotoxins with new disulfide linkage. | the m-superfamily with the typical cys framework (-cc-c-c-cc-) is one of the seven major superfamilies of conotoxins found in the venom of cone snails. based on the number of residues in the last cys loop (between c4 and c5), m-superfamily conotoxins can be provisionally categorized into four branches (m-1, m-2, m-3, m-4) [corpuz gp, jacobsen rb, jimenez ec, watkins m, walker c, colledge c, garrett je, mcdougal o, li w, gray wr, et al. (2005) biochemistry44, 8176-8186]. here we report the purifi ... | 2006 | 17042781 |
| cdna cloning of two novel t-superfamily conotoxins from conus leopardus. | the full-length cdnas of two novel t-superfamily conotoxins, lp5.1 and lp5.2, were cloned from a vermivorous cone snail conus leopardus using 3'/5'-rapid amplification of cdna ends. the cdna of lp5.1 encodes a precursor of 65 residues, including a 22-residue signal peptide, a 28-residue propeptide and a 15-residue mature peptide. lp5.1 is processed at the common signal site-x-arg- immediately before the mature peptide sequences. in the case of lp5.2, the precursor includes a 25-residue signal pe ... | 2006 | 16604269 |