Abstract
Cone snail venoms have separately evolved for predation and defense. Despite remarkable inter- and intra-species variability, defined sets of synergistic venom peptides (cabals) are considered essential for prey capture by cone snails. To better understand the role of predatory cabals in cone snails, we used a high-throughput proteomic data mining and visualisation approach. Using this approach, the relationship between the predatory venom peptides from nine C. purpurascens was systematically analysed. Surprisingly, potentially synergistic levels of κ-PVIIA and δ-PVIA were only identified in five of nine specimens. In contrast, the remaining four specimens lacked significant levels of these known excitotoxins and instead contained high levels of the muscle nAChR blockers ψ-PIIIE and αA-PIVA. Interestingly, one of nine specimens expressed both cabals, suggesting that these sub-groups might represent inter-breeding sub-species of C. purpurascens. High throughput cluster analysis also revealed these two cabals clustered with distinct groups of venom peptides that are presently uncharacterised. This is the first report showing that the cone snails of the same species can deploy two separate and distinct predatory cabals for prey capture and shows that the cabals deployed by this species can be more complex than presently realized. Our semi-automated proteomic analysis facilitates the deconvolution of complex venoms to identify co-evolved families of peptides and help unravel their evolutionary relationships in complex venoms.
Highlights
Cone snails are venomous marine molluscs that hunt fish, molluscs and worms depending on their prey preference
The injected venom collected from nine specimens of C. purpurascens was analyzed using nanoflow LC-ESI-TripleTOF-MS to identify the conopeptide profile of each specimen, as previously described[13]
To broaden and accelerate this approach, we developed an accelerated de novo approach that revealed the separate motor and lightning strike cabals have coevolved with distinct clusters of currently uncharacterized conotoxins
Summary
Cone snails are venomous marine molluscs that hunt fish, molluscs and worms depending on their prey preference. There are ~850 species of cone snails identified[2] with each expressing many thousands of unique peptides[3,4,5,6] that selectively target a diverse range of voltage- and ligand gated ion channels, transporters and G-protein couple receptors[7]. The “omics” data explosion requires complementary rapid data analysis and interpretation tools to make sense of embedded relationships Statistical methods such as Principal Component Variable Grouping and Hierarchical clustering allows assignment of a large number of variables to a smaller number of groups for enhanced visualization[14,15]. Similar results were obtained using both manual and a new semi-automated peptide measurement approach, validating the use of this approach to accelerate the deconvolution of complex proteomes
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.