Journal article
Hormone-like peptides in the venoms of marine cone snails
SD Robinson, Q Li, PK Bandyopadhyay, J Gajewiak, M Yandell, AT Papenfuss, AW Purcell, RS Norton, H Safavi-Hemami
General and Comparative Endocrinology | Published : 2017
Abstract
The venoms of cone snails (genus Conus) are remarkably complex, consisting of hundreds of typically short, disulfide-rich peptides termed conotoxins. These peptides have diverse pharmacological targets, with injection of venom eliciting a range of physiological responses, including sedation, paralysis and sensory overload. Most conotoxins target the prey's nervous system but evidence of venom peptides targeting neuroendocrine processes is emerging. Examples include vasopressin, RFamide neuropeptides and recently also insulin. To investigate the diversity of hormone/neuropeptide-like molecules in the venoms of cone snails we systematically mined the venom gland transcriptomes of several cone ..
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Awarded by Australian Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
We thank Dorothy Loo and Dr. Nicholas Williamson for technical assistance with mass spectrometry. The authors acknowledge financial support from a Discovery Grant (DP110101331) from the Australian Research Council (AWP), an NIH program project Grant (GM48677, B. Olivera Program Director) (PB) and NIH research project Grant (GM099939) (PKB and MY). RSN, AWP and ATP acknowledge fellowship support from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). ATP was supported by an Australian NHMRC Program Grant (1054618) and acknowledges the Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Support and Australian Government NHMRC Independent Research Institute Infrastructure Support Scheme. HSH is supported by a Marie Curie Fellowship from the European Commission (CONBIOS 330486). SDR received support from a Monash University Postgraduate Publication Award.