Chemical Synthesis and Insecticidal Activity Research Based on α-Conotoxins
Chengzhang Lin,
Hailong Qin,
Yanling Liao,
Jiao Chen,
Bingmiao Gao
Affiliations
Chengzhang Lin
Engineering Research Center of Tropical Medicine Innovation and Transformation of Ministry of Education, International Joint Research Center of Human-Machine Intelligent Collaborative for Tumor Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Hainan Province, Hainan Key Laboratory for Research and Development of Tropical Herbs, School of Pharmacy, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China
Hailong Qin
Engineering Research Center of Tropical Medicine Innovation and Transformation of Ministry of Education, International Joint Research Center of Human-Machine Intelligent Collaborative for Tumor Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Hainan Province, Hainan Key Laboratory for Research and Development of Tropical Herbs, School of Pharmacy, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China
Yanling Liao
Engineering Research Center of Tropical Medicine Innovation and Transformation of Ministry of Education, International Joint Research Center of Human-Machine Intelligent Collaborative for Tumor Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Hainan Province, Hainan Key Laboratory for Research and Development of Tropical Herbs, School of Pharmacy, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China
Jiao Chen
Engineering Research Center of Tropical Medicine Innovation and Transformation of Ministry of Education, International Joint Research Center of Human-Machine Intelligent Collaborative for Tumor Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Hainan Province, Hainan Key Laboratory for Research and Development of Tropical Herbs, School of Pharmacy, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China
Bingmiao Gao
Engineering Research Center of Tropical Medicine Innovation and Transformation of Ministry of Education, International Joint Research Center of Human-Machine Intelligent Collaborative for Tumor Precision Diagnosis and Treatment of Hainan Province, Hainan Key Laboratory for Research and Development of Tropical Herbs, School of Pharmacy, Hainan Medical University, Haikou 571199, China
The escalating resistance of agricultural pests to chemical insecticides necessitates the development of novel, efficient, and safe biological insecticides. Conus quercinus, a vermivorous cone snail, yields a crude venom rich in peptides for marine worm predation. This study screened six α-conotoxins with insecticidal potential from a previously constructed transcriptome database of C. quercinus, characterized by two disulfide bonds. These conotoxins were derived via solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) and folded using two-step iodine oxidation for further insecticidal activity validation, such as CCK-8 assay and insect bioassay. The final results confirmed the insecticidal activities of the six α-conotoxins, with Qc1.15 and Qc1.18 exhibiting high insecticidal activity. In addition, structural analysis via homology modeling and functional insights from molecular docking offer a preliminary look into their potential insecticidal mechanisms. In summary, this study provides essential references and foundations for developing novel insecticides.
