Skip to main content
Publications | Persons | Institutes | Projects
[ report an error in this record ]basket (0): add | show Print this page

Venomous secretions from marine snails of the Terebridae family target acetylcholine receptors
Kendel, Y.; Melaun, C.; Kurz, A.; Nicke, A.; Peigneur, S.; Tytgat, J.; Wunder, C.; Mebs, D.; Kauferstein, S. (2013). Venomous secretions from marine snails of the Terebridae family target acetylcholine receptors. Toxins 5(5): 1043-1050. dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins5051043
In: Toxins. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI): Basel. e-ISSN 2072-6651, more
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Authors 

Keywords
    Terebridae Mörch, 1852 [WoRMS]
    Marine/Coastal
Author keywords
    Terebridae venom; gland extracts; acetylcholine receptors; potassiumchannels; sodium channels

Authors  Top 
  • Kendel, Y.
  • Melaun, C.
  • Kurz, A.
  • Nicke, A.
  • Peigneur, S., more
  • Tytgat, J., more
  • Wunder, C.
  • Mebs, D.
  • Kauferstein, S.

Abstract
    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 (alpha(3)beta(2), alpha(3)beta(4), alpha(4)beta(2), alpha(4)beta(4), alpha 7) and muscle subtypes (alpha(1)beta(1)gamma delta), 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 a7 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.

All data in the Integrated Marine Information System (IMIS) is subject to the VLIZ privacy policy Top | Authors