Prashanth Jutty Rajan, Dutertre Sebastien, Lewis Richard James
Centre for Pain Research, Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, 4072, Australia.
Mol Biosyst. 2017 Nov 21;13(12):2453-2465. doi: 10.1039/c7mb00511c.
Cone snails are predatory gastropods whose neurotoxic venom peptides (conotoxins) have been extensively studied for pharmacological probes, venom evolution mechanisms and potential therapeutics. Conotoxins have a wide range of structural and functional classes that continue to undergo accelerated evolution that underlies the rapid expansion of the genus over their short evolutionary history. A number of pharmacological classes, driven by separately evolved defensive and predatory venoms, have been hypothesised to facilitate shifts in prey that exemplify the adaptability of cone snails. Here we provide an overview of these pharmacological families and discuss their ecological roles and evolutionary impact.
芋螺是肉食性腹足纲动物，其神经毒性毒液肽（芋螺毒素）已被广泛研究，用于药理学探针、毒液进化机制及潜在治疗方法。芋螺毒素有多种结构和功能类别，它们持续经历加速进化，这是该属在其短暂进化历史中迅速扩张的基础。由分别进化的防御性和捕食性毒液驱动的一些药理学类别，被认为有助于猎物的转变，这体现了芋螺的适应性。在此，我们概述这些药理学家族，并讨论它们的生态作用和进化影响。
