title: Conus ventricosus venom peptides profiling by HPLC-MS: a new insight in the intraspecific variation.
abstract: Conus is a genus of predatory marine gastropods that poison the prey with a complex mixture of compounds active on muscle and nerve cells. An individual cone snail's venom contains a mixture of pharmacological agents, mostly short, structurally constrained peptides. This study is focused on the composition of the venom employed by Conus ventricosus Gmelin, 1791, a worm-hunting cone snail living in the Mediterranean Sea. For this purpose, LC coupled to MS techniques has been successfully used to establish qualitative and quantitative differences in conopeptides from minute amounts of venom ducts. We were able to prove variability in the venom conopeptide complement, possibly related to different trophic habits of the species in the Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, the information-rich MS techniques enabled us to identify two novel C. ventricosus peptides, here named Conotoxin-Vn and -Conotoxin-Vn. On the basis of the structural data collected so far, we suggest that Conotoxin-Vn is a conopeptide belonging to the -family that recognizes calcium channels through a specific pharmacophore. Similarly, molecular modeling data suggest that -Conotoxin-Vn should represent a competitive antagonist of neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs).
authors.affiliation: Consorzio Interuniversitario Istituto Nazionale Biostrutture e Biosistemi, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Romeo
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Di Francesco
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oliverio
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palazzo
authors.forename: Gabriella Raybaudi
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Massilia
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ascenzi
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Polticelli
authors.forename: Maria Eugenia
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Schininà
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008978:Mollusk Venoms / Q000737:chemistry*; D010455:Peptides / Q000032:analysis*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012908:Snails / Q000737:chemistry*; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D008978:Mollusk Venoms; D010455:Peptides