Abstract
The venom of each Conus species consists of a diverse array of neurophysiologically active peptides, which are mostly unique to the examined species. In this study, we performed high-throughput transcriptome sequencing to extract and analyze putative conotoxin transcripts from the venom ducts of 3 vermivorous cone snails (C. caracteristicus, C. generalis, and C. quercinus), which are resident in offshore waters of the South China Sea. In total, 118, 61, and 48 putative conotoxins (across 22 superfamilies) were identified from the 3 Conus species, respectively; most of them are novel, and some possess new cysteine patterns. Interestingly, a series of 45 unassigned conotoxins presented with a new framework of C-C-C-C-C-C, and their mature regions were sufficiently distinct from any other known conotoxins, most likely representing a new superfamily. O- and M-superfamily conotoxins were the most abundant in transcript number and transcription level, suggesting their critical roles in the venom functions of these vermivorous cone snails. In addition, we identified numerous functional proteins with potential involvement in the biosynthesis, modification, and delivery process of conotoxins, which may shed light on the fundamental mechanisms for the generation of these important conotoxins within the venom duct of cone snails.
Highlights
Cone snail is the common name for predatory marine mollusks in the family Conidae, with over 700 extant species and a categorization of four genera and 71 subgenera [1,2,3]
De novo assembling of all the high-quality clean reads using SOAPdenovo produced 213 k, 153 k, and 219 k contigs for the 3 species, respectively, which were subsequently assembled into scaffolds and unigenes
In this study, combined with our published report of C. betulinus [32], we identified 45 putative unassigned conotoxins, which possessed the IX (C-C-C-C-C-C) cysteine framework and loop lengths same as Cal9.1a~d from Californiconus californicus [3,59]
Summary
Cone snail is the common name for predatory marine mollusks in the family Conidae, with over 700 extant species and a categorization of four genera and 71 subgenera [1,2,3]. Within the Conus, the largest genus in the Conidae, 57 subgenera have been recognized [3]. As venomous predators distributed throughout tropical and subtropical coastal waters all over the world, the living cone snails are typically divided into 3 groups based on their feeding habits, including fish hunters, mollusc hunters, and worm hunters [4,5,6]. Some phylogenetic data have suggested that the ancestral cone snails preyed on marine worms [7,8]. ~30% of Conus species, and they are assumed to be dangerous to humans; the largest.
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