Fish-hunting cone snail disrupts prey's glucose homeostasis with weaponized mimetics of somatostatin and insulin.

ABSTRACT: Venomous animals have evolved diverse molecular mechanisms to incapacitate prey and defend against predators. Most venom components disrupt nervous, locomotor, and cardiovascular systems or cause tissue damage. The discovery that certain fish-hunting cone snails use weaponized insulins to induce hypoglycemic shock in prey highlights a unique example of toxins targeting glucose homeostasis. Here, we show that, in addition to insulins, the deadly fish hunter, Conus geographus, uses a selective somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR₂) agonist that blocks the release of the insulin-counteracting hormone glucagon, thereby exacerbating insulin-induced hypoglycemia in prey. The native toxin, Consomatin nG1, exists in several proteoforms with a minimized vertebrate somatostatin-like core motif c

SUBMITTER: Yeung HY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11336141 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature