Qiong Shi
Shenzhen University, China
Title: High throughput identification of novel conotoxins from cone snails by multi-transcriptomic sequencing
Biography
Biography: Qiong Shi
Abstract
With an estimation of over 500 species, cone snails are classified into Conus, the biggest genus among marine invertebrates. Cone snails apply a complex cocktail of venom components to capture and digest prey. According to variation in diet, cone snails are divided into piscivorous, molluscivorous and vermivorous groups. In the past few years, our lab has successfully performed transcriptomic sequencing of around 10 species. Here, we summarize our recent data about a special species, Chinese tubular cone snail (C. betulinus), which is the dominant conus species inhabiting the South China Sea. The transcriptomes of venom ducts and venom bulbs from a variety of specimens of this species were sequenced using both next-generation sequencing and traditional Sanger sequencing technologies, resulting in identification of a total of 215 distinct conopeptides. Among these, 183 were novel conopeptides, including 9 new super families. It appears that most of the identified conopeptides are synthesized in the venom duct, while a handful of conopeptides are identified only in the venom bulb and at very low levels. Variation in conopeptides from different specimens of C. betulinus was observed, which suggested the presence of intraspecific variability in toxin production at the genetic level. These novel conopeptides provide a potentially fertile resource for development of new pharmaceuticals and a pathway for discovery of new conotoxins.