title: Novel M-Superfamily and T-Superfamily conotoxins and contryphans from the vermivorous snail Conus figulinus.
abstract: The venom of Conus figulinus, a vermivorous cone snail, found in the south east coast of India, has been studied in an effort to identify novel peptide toxins. The amino acid sequences of seven peptides have been established using de novo mass spectrometric based sequencing methods. Among these, three peptides belong to the M-Superfamily conotoxins, namely, Fi3a, Fi3b, and Fi3c, and one that belongs to the T-Superfamily, namely, Fi5a. The other three peptides are contryphans, namely, contryphans fib, fic, and fid. Of these Fi3b, Fi3c, Fi5a, and contryphan fib are novel and are reported for the first time from venom of C. figulinus. The details of the sequencing methods and the relationship of these peptides with other 'M'-Superfamily conotoxins from the fish hunting and mollusk hunting clades are discussed. These novel peptides could serve as a lead compounds for the development of neuropharmacologically important drugs.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biophysics Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India.
authors.forename: Rajaian Pushpabai
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Rajesh
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D020916:Conotoxins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D052078:Conus Snail / Q000737:chemistry*; D003553:Cystine / Q000737:chemistry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein
chemical_list: D020916:Conotoxins; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; C102355:contryphan; D003553:Cystine
keywords: M-Superfamily conotoxins; T-Superfamily Conotoxins; cone snails; contryphans; de novosequencing; disulfide rich peptides; venom