2.15 – Natural Peptide Toxins
In: Mander, L.N.; Liu, H.-W. (2010). Comprehensive natural products II. Chemistry and biology. Elsevier: [s.l.]. ISBN 978-0-08-045382-8. , more |
| Keywords | Actiniaria [WoRMS]; Conus Linnaeus, 1758 [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal | | Author keywords | cone snails; peptides; sea anemone; three-dimensional structure; venom; voltage-gated ion channels |
| Abstract | The marine environment is a vast resource of natural products of unique characteristics. Among these are the ones that are peptidic in nature, more specifically, compounds that are ribosomally produced as larger proteins and are subsequently posttranslationally modified to produce the desired peptidic marine natural product that possesses small-molecule characteristics. Venomous predatory marine animals such as cone snails and sea anemones produce a plethora of peptidic scaffolds that target specific ion channels and receptors as part of their neurochemical and biochemical strategy to capture their prey. In this chapter, we discuss in detail the chemistry and biology of the peptidic components produced by these animals. Components found in the venom of cone snails are typically smaller and heavily modified when compared to sea anemone toxins. Nevertheless, both cone snails and sea anemones produce a myriad of peptides of which a large group acts on voltage-gated ion channels. In comparison to other organisms, their venoms and toxins are not well studied; however, the first compound of marine origin to receive official approval as a drug in the United States is Prialt, a 25-residue conotoxin from the venom of Conus magus, which targets selectively Cav2.2, a voltage-gated calcium channel implicated in certain types of chronic pain. The pharmacological applications of peptidic marine natural products and their use as neuronal probes are also discussed. |
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