Back to Search
Start Over
High-throughput identification of novel conotoxins from the Chinese tubular cone snail (Conus betulinus) by multi-transcriptome sequencing
- Source :
- GigaScience
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Oxford University Press (OUP), 2016.
-
Abstract
- Background The venom of predatory marine cone snails mainly contains a diverse array of unique bioactive peptides commonly referred to as conopeptides or conotoxins. These peptides have proven to be valuable pharmacological probes and potential drugs because of their high specificity and affinity to important ion channels, receptors and transporters of the nervous system. Most previous studies have focused specifically on the conopeptides from piscivorous and molluscivorous cone snails, but little attention has been devoted to the dominant vermivorous species. Results The vermivorous Chinese tubular cone snail, Conus betulinus, is the dominant Conus species inhabiting the South China Sea. The transcriptomes of venom ducts and venom bulbs from a variety of specimens of this species were sequenced using both next-generation sequencing and traditional Sanger sequencing technologies, resulting in the identification of a total of 215 distinct conopeptides. Among these, 183 were novel conopeptides, including nine new superfamilies. It appeared that most of the identified conopeptides were synthesized in the venom duct, while a handful of conopeptides were identified only in the venom bulb and at very low levels. Conclusions We identified 215 unique putative conopeptide transcripts from the combination of five transcriptomes and one EST sequencing dataset. Variation in conopeptides from different specimens of C. betulinus was observed, which suggested the presence of intraspecific variability in toxin production at the genetic level. These novel conopeptides provide a potentially fertile resource for the development of new pharmaceuticals, and a pathway for the discovery of new conotoxins. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13742-016-0122-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Subjects :
- Venom duct
0301 basic medicine
China
Conotoxin
Oceans and Seas
Molecular Sequence Data
Poison control
Health Informatics
Venom
Bioinformatics
Cone snail
03 medical and health sciences
symbols.namesake
Species Specificity
Conus
Animals
Venom bulb
Amino Acid Sequence
Conopeptide
Sanger sequencing
biology
Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
Conus betulinus
Gene Expression Profiling
Research
Conus Snail
Genetic Variation
High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
Sequence Analysis, DNA
biology.organism_classification
Computer Science Applications
030104 developmental biology
Evolutionary biology
symbols
Conotoxins
Peptides
Transcriptome
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 2047217X
- Volume :
- 5
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- GigaScience
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....2ff997bfce688c256146719c23e5b517