Characterization of the Conus bullatus genome and its venom-duct transcriptome.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The venomous marine gastropods, cone snails (genus Conus), inject prey with a lethal cocktail of conopeptides, small cysteine-rich peptides, each with a high affinity for its molecular target, generally an ion channel, receptor or transporter. Over the last decade, conopeptides have proven indispensable reagents for the study of vertebrate neurotransmission. Conus bullatus belongs to a clade of Conus species called Textilia, whose pharmacology is still poorly characterized. Thus the genomics analyses presented here provide the first step toward a better understanding the enigmatic Textilia clade.

Results

We have carried out a sequencing survey of the Conus bullatus genome and venom-duct transcriptome. We find that conopeptides are highly expressed within the venom

SUBMITTER: Hu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3040727 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature