title: Comparative Venomics Reveals the Complex Prey Capture Strategy of the Piscivorous Cone Snail Conus catus.
abstract: Venomous marine cone snails produce a unique and remarkably diverse range of venom peptides (conotoxins and conopeptides) that have proven to be invaluable as pharmacological probes and leads to new therapies. Conus catus is a hook-and-line fish hunter from clade I, with ∼20 conotoxins identified, including the analgesic ω-conotoxin CVID (AM336). The current study unravels the venom composition of C. catus with tandem mass spectrometry and 454 sequencing data. From the venom gland transcriptome, 104 precursors were recovered from 11 superfamilies, with superfamily A (especially κA-) conotoxins dominating (77%) their venom. Proteomic analysis confirmed that κA-conotoxins dominated the predation-evoked milked venom of each of six C. catus analyzed and revealed remarkable intraspecific variation in both the intensity and type of conotoxins. High-throughput FLIPR assays revealed that the predation-evoked venom contained a range of conotoxins targeting the nAChR, Cav, and Nav ion channels, consistent with α- and ω-conotoxins being used for predation by C. catus. However, the κA-conotoxins did not act at these targets but induced potent and rapid immobilization followed by bursts of activity and finally paralysis when injected intramuscularly in zebrafish. Our venomics approach revealed the complexity of the envenomation strategy used by C. catus, which contains a mix of both excitatory and inhibitory venom peptides.
authors: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland , Brisbane, 4072 Queensland, Australia.
authors: S W A
authors: SW
authors: Himaya
authors: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland , Brisbane, 4072 Queensland, Australia.
authors: Ai-Hua
authors: AH
authors: Jin
authors: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland , Brisbane, 4072 Queensland, Australia.|Institut des Biomolécules Max Mousseron, UMR 5247, Université Montpellier-CNRS , Place Eugène Bataillon, Montpellier Cedex 5 34095, France.
authors: Sébastien
authors: S
authors: Dutertre
authors: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland , Brisbane, 4072 Queensland, Australia.
authors: Jean
authors: J
authors: Giacomotto
authors: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland , Brisbane, 4072 Queensland, Australia.
authors: Hoshyar
authors: H
authors: Mohialdeen
authors: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland , Brisbane, 4072 Queensland, Australia.
authors: Irina
authors: I
authors: Vetter
authors: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland , Brisbane, 4072 Queensland, Australia.
authors: Paul F
authors: PF
authors: Alewood
authors: Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland , Brisbane, 4072 Queensland, Australia.
authors: Richard J
authors: RJ
authors: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms; D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000633:toxicity; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D020916:Conotoxins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000633:toxicity; D052078:Conus Snail / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000502:physiology; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008978:Mollusk Venoms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000633:toxicity; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects; D018733:Nicotinic Antagonists / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000633:toxicity; D026902:Potassium Channel Blockers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000633:toxicity; D015221:Potassium Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D011235:Predatory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000378:metabolism; D013045:Species Specificity; D059467:Transcriptome; D015027:Zebrafish / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D002121:Calcium Channel Blockers; D015220:Calcium Channels; D020916:Conotoxins; D008978:Mollusk Venoms; D018733:Nicotinic Antagonists; D026902:Potassium Channel Blockers; D015221:Potassium Channels; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic
keywords: Conus catus; glycosylation; intraspecific variation; predatory-evoked venom; transcriptome; κA-conotoxin; ω-conotoxin