Diversity in sequences, post-translational modifications and expected pharmacological activities of toxins from four Conus species revealed by the combination of cutting-edge proteomics, transcriptomics and bioinformatics (original) (raw)
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Transcriptomic Messiness in the Venom Duct of Conus miles Contributes to Conotoxin Diversity
Molecular & Cellular Proteomics, 2013
Marine cone snails have developed sophisticated chemical strategies to capture prey and defend themselves against predators. Among the vast array of bioactive molecules in their venom, peptide components called conotoxins or conopeptides dominate, with many binding with high affinity and selectivity to a broad range of cellular targets, including receptors and transporters of the nervous system. Whereas the conopeptide gene precursor organization has a conserved topology, the peptides in the venom duct are highly processed. Indeed, deep sequencing transcriptomics has uncovered on average fewer than 100 toxin gene precursors per species, whereas advanced proteomics has revealed >10-fold greater diversity at the peptide level. In the present study, second-generation sequencing technologies coupled to highly sensitive mass spectrometry methods were applied to rapidly uncover the conopeptide diversity in the venom of a worm-hunting species, Conus miles. A total of 662 putative conopeptide encoded sequences were retrieved from transcriptomic data, comprising 48 validated conotoxin sequences that clustered into 10 gene superfamilies, including 3 novel superfamilies and a novel cysteine framework (C-C-C-CCC-C-C) identified at both transcript and peptide levels. A surprisingly large number of conopeptide gene sequences were expressed at low levels, including a series of single amino acid variants, as well as sequences containing deletions and frame and stop codon shifts. Some of the toxin variants generate alternative cleavage sites, interrupted or elongated cysteine frameworks, and highly variable isoforms within families that could be identified at the peptide level. Together with the variable peptide processing identified previously, background genetic and phenotypic levels of biological messiness in venoms contribute to the hypervariability of venom peptides and their ability to evolve rapidly. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 12: 10.1074/mcp.M113.030353, 3824-3833, 2013.
Science and engineering journal, 2024
onus species in the sub-genus Asprella are poorly studied because they inhabit deep-water habitats. To date, only a few peptides have been characterized from this clade. In this study, the venom duct transcriptome of a member of this clade, Conus rolani, was mined for potential conopeptides. Using a highthroughput RNA sequencing platform (Illumina) and a multiple k-mer de novo assembly, we found 103 putative conopeptide precursor amino acid sequences, including the few peptides previously reported for this species. The sequences, predominantly novel based on amino acid sequence, were diverse, comprising 36 gene superfamilies (including the "unassigned" superfamilies). As observed in other Conus species, the O1 gene superfamily was the most diverse (12 distinct sequences) but interestingly none of the sequences were found to contain the conserved amino acids associated with certain bioactivities in peptides found in piscivorous Conus species. The O2 superfamily was also highly diverse but conikot-ikot and an unassigned superfamily (MMSRMG) were more diverse than the rest of the superfamilies. In terms of gene expression levels, the understudied MEFRR paralog of the ancestral divergent M-L-LTVA superfamily was found to be the most highly expressed in the transcriptome, suggesting a novel role. Additionally, a conopeptide with high sequence similarity to A2 secretory group XII phospholipases is the first reported member of this phospholipase group in Conus and potentially represents a novel superfamily, expanding the catalog of known phospholipases present in cone snail venoms. The discovery of these putative conopeptides provides the first but early glimpse of the diversity and novelty of the peptides in the Asprella group and sets the stage for their functional characterization.
Proteomic Analysis Provides Insights on Venom Processing in Conus textile
Journal of Proteome Research, 2010
Conus species of marine snails deliver a potent collection of toxins from the venom duct via a long proboscis attached to a harpoon tooth. Conotoxins are known to possess powerful neurological effects and some have been developed for therapeutic uses. Using mass-spectrometry based proteomics, qualitative and quantitative differences in conotoxin components were found in the proximal, central and distal sections of the C. textile venom duct suggesting specialization of duct sections for biosynthesis of particular conotoxins. Reversed phase HPLC followed by Orbitrap mass spectrometry and data analysis using SEQUEST and ProLuCID identified 31 conotoxin sequences and 25 post-translational modification (PTM) variants with King-Kong 2 peptide being the most abundant. Several previously unreported variants of known conopeptides and were found and this is the first time that HyVal is reported for a disulfide rich Conus peptide. Differential expression along the venom duct, production of PTM variants, alternative proteolytic cleavage sites, and venom processing enroute to the proboscis all appear to contribute to enriching the combinatorial pool of conopeptides and producing the appropriate formulation for a particular hunting situation. The complimentary tools of mass spectrometry-based proteomics and molecular biology can greatly accelerate the discovery of Conus peptides and provide insights on envenomation and other biological strategies of cone snails.
Journal of Proteomics, 2012
Predatory marine snails of the genus Conus use venom containing a complex mixture of bioactive peptides to subdue their prey. Here we report on a comprehensive analysis of the protein content of injectable venom from Conus consors, an indo-pacific fish-hunting cone snail. By matching MS/MS data against an extensive set of venom gland transcriptomic mRNA sequences, we identified 105 components out of~400 molecular masses detected in the venom. Among them, we described new conotoxins belonging to the A, M-and O1superfamilies as well as a novel superfamily of disulphide free conopeptides. A high proportion of the deduced sequences (36%) corresponded to propeptide regions of the Aand M-superfamilies, raising the question of their putative role in injectable venom.
Characterization of the Conus bullatus genome and its venom-duct transcriptome
BMC Genomics, 2011
Background: The venomous marine gastropods, cone snails (genus Conus), inject prey with a lethal cocktail of conopeptides, small cysteine-rich peptides, each with a high affinity for its molecular target, generally an ion channel, receptor or transporter. Over the last decade, conopeptides have proven indispensable reagents for the study of vertebrate neurotransmission. Conus bullatus belongs to a clade of Conus species called Textilia, whose pharmacology is still poorly characterized. Thus the genomics analyses presented here provide the first step toward a better understanding the enigmatic Textilia clade. Results: We have carried out a sequencing survey of the Conus bullatus genome and venom-duct transcriptome. We find that conopeptides are highly expressed within the venom-duct, and describe an in silico pipeline for their discovery and characterization using RNA-seq data. We have also carried out low-coverage shotgun sequencing of the genome, and have used these data to determine its size, genome-wide base composition, simple repeat, and mobile element densities. Conclusions: Our results provide the first global view of venom-duct transcription in any cone snail. A notable feature of Conus bullatus venoms is the breadth of A-superfamily peptides expressed in the venom duct, which are unprecedented in their structural diversity. We also find SNP rates within conopeptides are higher compared to the remainder of C. bullatus transcriptome, consistent with the hypothesis that conopeptides are under diversifying selection.
Proteomic and Transcriptomic Techniques to Decipher the Molecular Evolution of Venoms
Toxins, 2021
Nature’s library of venoms is a vast and untapped resource that has the potential of becoming the source of a wide variety of new drugs and therapeutics. The discovery of these valuable molecules, hidden in diverse collections of different venoms, requires highly specific genetic and proteomic sequencing techniques. These have been used to sequence a variety of venom glands from species ranging from snakes to scorpions, and some marine species. In addition to identifying toxin sequences, these techniques have paved the way for identifying various novel evolutionary links between species that were previously thought to be unrelated. Furthermore, proteomics-based techniques have allowed researchers to discover how specific toxins have evolved within related species, and in the context of environmental pressures. These techniques allow groups to discover novel proteins, identify mutations of interest, and discover new ways to modify toxins for biomimetic purposes and for the developmen...
Mass spectrometry a b s t r a c t Milked venoms of Conus demonstrate direct lineage to US Food and Drug Administration approved and present in-trial drug leads. Yet the complexity of the milked venom has not been adequately investigated or characterized, in a sustainable manner. In this study we determine the extent of molecular mass differentiation in milked venom from captive Conus magus and confirm the expression of known conotoxin constituents. We demonstrate the presence of post-translational N-terminal peptide truncation, which differentiates the milked venom constituent a-conotoxin MI from the novel a-conotoxin MIC. This truncation has a direct effect on peptide bioactivity -K i of 89.1 AE 9.1 and 248.7 AE 10.9 nM (a-conotoxin MI and MIC respectively) toward the muscle-type nAChR (Torpedo). These milked venom conotoxins demonstrated acute lethality in fish, with a LD 50 of 12.24 and 23.29 mg kg À1 for a-conotoxin MI and MIC respectively. By synthesizing and investigating the synthetic intermediate variant des[Gly] 1 a-conotoxin MI, it was demonstrated that retention of the N-terminal arginine residue increased affinity at the muscle-type nAChR site (binding K i of 73.3 AE 5.8 nM and lethal toxicity level LD 50 of 8.19 mg kg À1 ). This posttranslational modification event within the milked venom of C. magus represents a unique mechanism by which cone snails are able to increase the chemical and pharmacological diversity of their venoms.
Conotoxin TVIIA, a novel peptide from the venom of Conus tulipa
European Journal of Biochemistry, 2000
The three-dimensional solution structure of conotoxin TVIIA, a 30-residue polypeptide from the venom of the piscivorous cone snail Conus tulipa, has been determined using 2D 1 H NMR spectroscopy. TVIIA contains six cysteine residues which form a`four-loop' structural framework common to many peptides from Conus venoms including the v-, d-, k-, and mO-conotoxins. However, TVIIA does not belong to these well-characterized pharmacological classes of conotoxins, but displays high sequence identity with conotoxin GS, a muscle sodium channel blocker from Conus geographus. Structure calculations were based on 562 interproton distance restraints inferred from NOE data, together with 18 backbone and nine side-chain torsion angle restraints derived from spin-spin coupling constants. The final family of 20 structures had mean pairwise rms differences over residues 2±27 of 0.18^0.05 A Ê for the backbone atoms and 1.39^0.33 A Ê for all heavy atoms. The structure consists of a triple-stranded, antiparallel b sheet with 12x, 21 topology (residues 7±9, 16±20 and 23±27) and several b turns. The core of the molecule is formed by three disulfide bonds which form a cystine knot motif common to many toxic and inhibitory polypeptides. The global fold, molecular shape and distribution of amino-acid sidechains in TVIIA is similar to that previously reported for conotoxin GS, and comparison with other four-loop conotoxin structures provides further indication that TVIIA and GS represent a new and distinct subgroup of this structural family. The structure of TVIIA determined in this study provides the basis for determining a structureactivity relationship for these molecules and their interaction with target receptors.
delta.-Conotoxin GmVIA, a Novel Peptide from the Venom of Conus gloriamaris
Biochemistry, 1994
A novel peptide toxin, 6-conotoxin GmVIA, was purified from the venom of Conus gloriamaris, a mollusc-hunting snail. It consists of 29 amino acids, including six Cys residues: FIGURE 1 : Shell pattern of Conus gloriamaris, the Glory-of-the-Sea ' Abstract publish4 in AdWZce ACS Abstracts, September 1 9 1994cone: a close-up of the shell of the highly venomous marine snail.