Venomous Secretions from Marine Snails of the Terebridae Family Target Acetylcholine Receptors

Toxins

Yvonne Kendel⁴  Christian Melaun²  Alexander Kurz⁴  Annette Nicke¹  Steve Peigneur³  Jan Tytgat³  Cora Wunder⁴  Dietrich Mebs² 

[1] Max-Planck-Institute of Experimental Medicine, Hermann-Rein-Str. 3, Göttingen D-37075, Germany; E-Mail:;Biodiversity and Climate Research Center (BiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, Frankfurt D-60325, Germany; E-Mails:;Laboratory of Toxicology and Pharmacology, University of Leuven, Campus Gatshuisberg, Herestraat 49, Leuven B-3000, Belgium; E-Mails:;Institute of Legal Medicine, University of Frankfurt, Kennedyallee 104, Frankfurt D-60596, Germany; E-Mails:

关键词: Terebridae venom;    gland extracts;    acetylcholine receptors;    potassium channels;    sodium channels;   

DOI  :  10.3390/toxins5051043

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Venoms from cone snails (Conidae) have been extensively studied during the last decades, but those from other members of the suborder Toxoglossa, such as of Terebridae and Turridae superfamilies attracted less interest so far. Here, we report the effects of venom and gland extracts from three species of the superfamily Terebridae. By 2-electrode voltage-clamp technique the gland extracts were tested on Xenopus oocytes expressing nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) of rat neuronal (α₃β₂, α₃β₄, α₄β₂, α₄β₄, α₇) and muscle subtypes (α₁β₁γδ), and expressing potassium (Kv1.2 and Kv1.3) and sodium channels (Nav1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6). The extracts were shown to exhibit remarkably high inhibitory activities on almost all nAChRs tested, in particular on the α₇ subtype suggesting the presence of peptides of the A-superfamily from the venom of Conus species. In contrast, no effects on the potassium and sodium channels tested were observed. The venoms of terebrid snails may offer an additional source of novel biologically active peptides.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.