Toxins (Jan 2024)

Diversity and Evolutionary Analysis of Venom Insulin Derived from Cone Snails

  • Qiqi Guo,
  • Meiling Huang,
  • Ming Li,
  • Jiao Chen,
  • Shuanghuai Cheng,
  • Linlin Ma,
  • Bingmiao Gao

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins16010034
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 1
p. 34

Abstract

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Cone snails possess a diverse array of novel peptide toxins, which selectively target ion channels and receptors in the nervous and cardiovascular systems. These numerous novel peptide toxins are a valuable resource for future marine drug development. In this review, we compared and analyzed the sequence diversity, three-dimensional structural variations, and evolutionary aspects of venom insulin derived from different cone snail species. The comparative analysis reveals that there are significant variations in the sequences and three-dimensional structures of venom insulins from cone snails with different feeding habits. Notably, the venom insulin of some piscivorous cone snails exhibits a greater similarity to humans and zebrafish insulins. It is important to emphasize that these venom insulins play a crucial role in the predatory strategies of these cone snails. Furthermore, a phylogenetic tree was constructed to trace the lineage of venom insulin sequences, shedding light on the evolutionary interconnections among cone snails with diverse diets.

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