从织锦芋螺中克隆α芋螺毒素序列

为了从我国南海产织锦芋螺（Ｃｏｎｕｓｔｅｘｔｉｌｅ）中分离新的毒素序列并研究其应用价值,进行了织锦芋螺毒素基因的分离工作．从织锦芋螺毒管中提取ｍＲＮＡ,以Ａ族芋螺毒素的信号肽编码部分和３′端非翻译部分的保守序列为引物,通过ＲＴ－ＰＣＲ扩增和序列分析方法获得新的芋螺毒素序列．结果得到两种不同的α芋螺毒素序列,两者都属于α４／７亚型芋螺毒素,预测其成熟肽序列分别为Ｐｒｏ－Ｇｌｕ－Ｃｙｓ－Ｃｙｓ－Ｓｅｒ－Ａｓｐ－Ｐｒｏ－Ａｒｇ－Ｃｙｓ－Ａｓｎ－Ｓｅｒ－Ｓｅｒ－Ｈｉｓ－Ｐｒｏ－Ｇｌｕ－Ｌｅｕ－Ｃｙｓ－Ｇｌｙ（Ｃ端Ｇｌｙ可能被酰胺化）和Ｐｒｏ－Ｇｌｕ－Ｃｙｓ－Ｃｙｓ－Ｓｅｒ－Ｈｉｓ－Ｐｒｏ－Ａｌａ－Ｃｙｓ－Ａｓｎ－Ｖａｌ－Ａｓｐ－Ｈｉｓ－Ｐｒｏ－Ｇｌｕ－Ｉｌｅ－Ｃｙｓ－Ａｒｇ．采用传统的生化分离手段尚未从织锦芋螺中获得过α芋螺毒素序列,这两种α芋螺毒素作用的种属特异性、受体类型特异性和在小细胞肺癌的诊断和治疗中的应用价值有待进一步研究     

织锦芋螺ο家族芋螺毒素的序列分析

为了从织锦芋螺（Ｃｏｎｕｓｔｅｘｔｉｌｅ）中尽可能多地分离出ο家族的毒素序列和研究其应用价值,在克隆了织锦芋螺α芋螺毒素的基础上进行了织锦芋螺ο家族芋螺毒素基因的分离工作．从织锦芋螺毒管中提取ｍ ＲＮＡ,通过ＲＡＣＥ（ｒａｐｉｄ ａｍ ｐｌｉｆｉｃａｔｉｏｎ ｏｆｃＤＮＡ ｅｎｄｓ,ｃＤＮＡ 末端的快速扩增）－ＰＣＲ方法扩增获得ο家族芋螺毒素ｃＤＮＡ 片段,并进行克隆和序列分析．从织锦芋螺毒液中获得了６种新的芋螺毒素序列,且毒素序列的成熟肽部分均符合Ｃ－ Ｃ－ ＣＣ－ Ｃ－ Ｃ的保守半胱氨酸框架．这些是新的ο家族芋螺毒素序列,新序列的阐明为进一步研究其生物活性和应用打下了基础．     

The three-dimensional solution structure of mini-M conotoxin BtIIIA reveals a disconnection between disulfide connectivity and peptide fold

Conotoxins are bioactive peptides from the venoms of marine snails and have been divided into several superfamilies based on homologies in their precursor sequences. The M-superfamily conotoxins can be further divided into five branches based on the number of residues in the third loop of the peptide sequence. Recently two M-1 branch conotoxins (tx3a and mr3e) with a C1–C5, C2–C4, C3–C6 disulfide connectivity and one M-2 branch conotoxin (mr3a) with a C1–C6, C2–C4, C3–C5 disulfide connectivity were described. Here we report the disulfide connectivity, chemical synthesis and the three-dimensional NMR structure of the novel 14-residue conotoxin BtIIIA, extracted from the venom of Conus betulinus. It has the same disulfide connectivity as mr3a, which puts it in the M-2 branch conotoxins but has a distinctly different structure from other M-2 branch conotoxins. 105 NOE distance restraints and seven dihedral angle restraints were used for the structure calculations. The three-dimensional structure was determined with CYANA based on torsion angle dynamics and refinement in a water solvent box was carried out with CNS. Fifty structures were calculated and the 20 lowest energy structures superimposed with a RMSD of 0.49 ± 0.16 Å. Even though it has the M-2 branch disulfide connectivity, BtIIIA was found to have a ‘flying bird’ backbone motif depiction that is found in the M-1 branch conotoxin mr3e. This study shows that conotoxins with the same cysteine framework can have different disulfide connectivities and different peptide folds.     

Identification and characterization of a novel O‐superfamily conotoxin from Conus litteratus

A novel conotoxin named lt6c, an O‐superfamily conotoxin, was identified from the cDNA library of venom duct of Conus litteratus. The full‐length cDNA contains an open reading frame encoding a predicted 22‐residue signal peptide, a 22‐residue proregion and a mature peptide of 28 amino acids. The signal peptide sequence of lt6c is highly conserved in O‐superfamily conotoxins and the mature peptide consists of six cysteines arranged in the pattern of C? C? CC? C? C that is defined the O‐superfamily of conotoxins. The mature peptide fused with thioredoxin, 6‐His tag, and a Factor Xa cleavage site was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli. About 12 mg lt6c was purified from 1L culture. Under whole‐cell patch‐clamp mode, lt6c inhibited sodium currents on adult rat dorsal root ganglion neurons. Therefore, lt6c is a novel O‐superfamily conotoxin that is able to block sodium channels. Copyright © 2008 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Isolation and cloning of a conotoxin with a novel cysteine pattern from Conus caracteristicus

A new conotoxin, ca16a, containing 8 cysteine residues was purified, sequenced, and cloned from a worm-hunting snail, Conus caracteristicus. This conotoxin is an extremely hydrophilic peptide comprising 34 residues, with 4 acidic and 4 basic residues. It is rich in polar Gly, Ser, and Thr residues and includes a hydroxylated Pro residue. The cysteine arrangement pattern of ca16a (-C-C-CC-C-CC-C-, designated as framework #16) is distinct from that of other known conotoxins. Furthermore, the signal peptide sequence of this conotoxin does not share any homology with those of other conotoxins. Leu residues account for almost 50% of its 20-residue signal peptide. The unique cysteine framework and signal peptide sequence of ca16a suggest that it belongs to a new conotoxin superfamily.     

Identification of a novel class of conotoxins defined as V-conotoxins with a unique cysteine pattern and signal peptide sequence

Cone snails are predatory gastropod mollusks distributed in all tropical marine habitats with a highly sophisticated defense strategy using small peptides in their venoms. Here, we report the discovery and initial characterization of the V-superfamily conotoxins. A novel conotoxin vi15a was purified from the venom of a worm-hunting species Conus virgo. The sequence of vi15a was determined to have a unique arrangement of cysteine residues (C-C-CC-C-C-C-C), which defines the new V-superfamily conotoxins. The cDNA of vi15a was cloned with RACE method. Its unique signal peptide sequence led to the cloning of another V-superfamily conotoxin, Vt15.1, from Conus vitulinus. These results, as well as the existence of Lt15.1 from Conus litteratus and ca15a from Conus caracteristicus with the same cysteine pattern, suggest that V-superfamily might be a large and diverse group of peptides widely distributed in different Conus species. Like other eight Cys-containing toxins, V-superfamily conotoxins might also adopt an “ICK+1” disulfide bond connectivity. The identification of this novel class of conotoxins will certainly improve our understanding of the structure diversity of disulfide rich toxins.     

Propeptide does not act as an intramolecular chaperone but facilitates protein disulfide isomerase-assisted folding of a conotoxin precursor

Conotoxins comprise a large and diverse group of peptide neurotoxins derived from Conus snail venoms; most contain multiple disulfide bonds. The conotoxin precursors consist of three distinct domains: the N-terminal signal sequence, an intervening propeptide region, and the C-terminal mature conotoxin. Formation of the native disulfide bonds during the oxidative folding of conotoxins is a prerequisite for their proper biological function, but in numerous in vitro folding experiments with mature conotoxins, a lack of specificity in formation of the native Cys-Cys connectivities is observed. The mechanisms that ensure that the native disulfide bonds are formed in venom ducts during biosynthesis remain unknown. To evaluate whether the propeptide could potentially function as an intramolecular chaperone, we studied the oxidative folding of a conotoxin precursor, pro-GI, belonging to the alpha-conotoxin family. Our results indicate that the propeptide sequence did not directly contribute to folding kinetics and thermodynamics. However, we found that the propeptide region of pro-GI played an important role when oxidative folding was catalyzed by protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). The PDI-assisted reaction was more efficient during the early folding in the context of the propeptide sequence (pro-GI), as compared to that of the mature conotoxin (alpha-GI). Taken together, our results suggest for the first time that the propeptide region may play a role in the PDI-catalyzed oxidative folding of conotoxin precursors.     

Oxidative folding and preparation of α‐conotoxins for use in high‐throughput structure–activity relationship studies

α‐Conotoxins are peptide neurotoxins that selectively inhibit various subtypes of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. They are important research tools for studying numerous pharmacological disorders, with profound potential for developing drug leads for treating pain, tobacco addiction, and other conditions. They are characterized by the presence of two disulfide bonds connected in a globular arrangement, which stabilizes a bioactive helical conformation. Despite extensive structure–activity relationship studies that have produced α‐conotoxin analogs with increased potency and selectivity towards specific nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes, the efficient production of diversity‐oriented α‐conotoxin combinatorial libraries has been limited by inefficient folding and purification procedures. We have investigated the optimized conditions for the reliable folding of α‐conotoxins using simplified oxidation procedures for use in the accelerated production of synthetic combinatorial libraries of α‐conotoxins. To this end, the effect of co‐solvent, redox reagents, pH, and temperature on the proportion of disulfide bond isomers was determined for α‐conotoxins exhibiting commonly known Cys loop spacing frameworks. In addition, we have developed high‐throughput ‘semi‐purification’ methods for the quick and efficient parallel preparation of α‐conotoxin libraries for use in accelerated structure–activity relationship studies. Our simplified procedures represent an effective strategy for the preparation of large arrays of correctly folded α‐conotoxin analogs and permit the rapid identification of active hits directly from high‐throughput pharmacological screening assays. Copyright © 2012 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization of a T-superfamily conotoxin TxVC from Conus textile that selectively targets neuronal nAChR subtypes

T-superfamily conotoxins have a typical cysteine pattern of “CC–CC”, and are known to mainly target calcium or sodium ion channels. Recently, we screened the targets of a series of T-superfamily conotoxins and found that a new T-superfamily conotoxin TxVC (KPCCSIHDNSCCGL-NH₂) from the venom of Conus textile. It selectively targeted the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtypes α4β2 and α3β2, with IC₅₀ values of 343.4 and 1047.2 nM, respectively, but did not exhibit obvious pharmacological effects on voltage-gated potassium, sodium or calcium channel in DRG cells, the BK channels expressed in HEK293 cells, or the Kv channels in LβT2 cells. The changes in the inhibitory activities of its Ala mutants, the NMR structure, and molecular simulation results based on other conotoxins targeting nAChR α4β2, all demonstrated that the residues Ile⁶ and Leu¹⁴ were the main hydrophobic pharmacophores. To our best knowledge, this is the first T-superfamily conotoxin that inhibits neuronal nAChRs and possesses high binding affinity to α4β2. This finding will expand the knowledge of the targets of T-superfamily conotoxins and the motif information could help the design of new nAChR inhibitors.     

Oxidative folding of conotoxins sharing an identical disulfide bridging framework

Conotoxins are short, disulfide-rich peptide neurotoxins produced in the venom of predatory marine cone snails. It is generally accepted that an estimated 100,000 unique conotoxins fall into only a handful of structural groups, based on their disulfide bridging frameworks. This unique molecular diversity poses a protein folding problem of relationships between hypervariability of amino acid sequences and mechanism(s) of oxidative folding. In this study, we present a comparative analysis of the folding properties of four conotoxins sharing an identical pattern of cysteine residues forming three disulfide bridges, but otherwise differing significantly in their primary amino acid sequence. Oxidative folding properties of M-superfamily conotoxins GIIIA, PIIIA, SmIIIA and RIIIK varied with respect to kinetics and thermodynamics. Based on rates for establishing the steady-state distribution of the folding species, two distinct folding mechanisms could be distinguished: first, rapid-collapse folding characterized by very fast, but low-yield accumulation of the correctly folded form; and second, slow-rearrangement folding resulting in higher accumulation of the properly folded form via the reshuffling of disulfide bonds within folding intermediates. Effects of changing the folding conditions indicated that the rapid-collapse and the slow-rearrangement mechanisms were mainly determined by either repulsive electrostatic or productive noncovalent interactions, respectively. The differences in folding kinetics for these two mechanisms were minimized in the presence of protein disulfide isomerase. Taken together, folding properties of conotoxins from the M-superfamily presented in this work and from the O-superfamily published previously suggest that conotoxin sequence diversity is also reflected in their folding properties, and that sequence information rather than a cysteine pattern determines the in vitro folding mechanisms of conotoxins.     

Protein folding determinants: structural features determining alternative disulfide pairing in alpha- and chi/lambda-conotoxins

Alpha-conotoxins isolated from Conus venoms contain 11-19 residues and preferentially fold into the globular conformation that possesses a specific disulfide pairing pattern (C1-3, C2-4). We and others isolated a new family of chi-conotoxins (also called lambda conotoxins) with the conserved cysteine framework of alpha-conotoxins but with alternative disulfide pairing (C1-4, C2-3) resulting in the ribbon conformation. In both families, disulfide pairing and hence folding are important for their biological potency. By comparing the structural differences, we identified potential structural determinants responsible for the folding tendencies of these conotoxins. We examined the role of conserved proline in the first intercysteine loop and the conserved C-terminal amide on folding patterns of synthetic analogues of ImI conotoxin by comparing the isoforms with the regiospecifically synthesized conformers. Deamidation at the C-terminus and substitution of proline in the first intercysteine loop switch the folding pattern from the globular form of alpha-conotoxins to the ribbon form of chi/lambda-conotoxins. The findings are corroborated by reciprocal folding of CMrVIA chi/lambda-conotoxins. Substitution of Lys-6 from the first intercysteine loop of CMrVIA conotoxin with proline, as well as the inclusion of an amidated C-terminal shifted the folding preference of CMrVIA conotoxin from its native ribbon conformation toward the globular conformation. Binding assays of ImI conotoxin analogues with Aplysia and Bulinus acetylcholine binding protein indicate that both these substitutions and their consequent conformational change substantially impact the binding affinity of ImI conotoxin. These results strongly indicate that the first intercysteine loop proline and C-terminal amidation act as conformational switches in alpha- and chi/lambda-conotoxins.     

Biochemical and gene expression analyses of conotoxins in Conus textile venom ducts

Each Conus snail species produces 50-200 unique peptide-based conotoxins, derived from a number of different gene superfamilies. Conotoxins are synthesized and secreted in a long venom duct, but biochemical and molecular aspects of their biosynthesis remain poorly understood. Here, we analyzed expression patterns of conotoxin genes belonging to different superfamilies in Conus textile venom ducts. The results demonstrate that specific gene families are expressed in particular regions of the venom duct. Biochemical analysis using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry revealed an even more localized accumulation of individual conotoxins. This study demonstrates for the first time that specialization of gene expression, processing, and secretion of conotoxins occurs in different regions of the venom duct.     

芋螺毒素MrIA的串联表达、纯化及生物活性鉴定

芋螺毒素(Conotoxins,CTxs)是一类特异作用于离子通道和膜受体的小分子多肽,是研究受体结构和功能及其相关疾病的重要工具。MrIA是进入临床研究可用于镇痛治疗的一种T超家族的芋螺毒素。传统获取芋螺毒素是通过化学合成的方法,成本高、产量低。实验利用串联表达技术,构建原核表达载体,在大肠杆菌(Escherichia coli,E. coli)中成功表达了芋螺毒素MrIA(recombinant MrIA,rMrIA)。通过溴化氰切割和纯化,最终1L菌液可获得纯度高达95%的rMrIA 30mg。小鼠热板实验表明,rMrIA具有较好的镇痛活性。这为大量获得MrIA以及其他芋螺毒素小肽的表达提供了方法。     

mr1e, a conotoxin from Conus marmoreus with a novel disulfide pattern

Conotoxins are well known for their highly variable structures and functions. Here we report the identification of a novel conotoxin named mr1e from Conus marmoreus . mr1e is composed of 11 amino acid residues cross-linked by two disulfide bonds (CCHSSWCKHLC). The spacing of intercysteine loops in mr1e is exactly the same as that in α4/3 conotoxins. However, the native mr1e peptide co-eluted on reverse-phase HPLC with the regioselectively synthesized ribbon disulfide linkage isomer (C¹-C⁴, C²-C³) but not the globular linkage isomer (C¹-C³, C²-C⁴). Although this peptide has the same disulfide connectivity as the χ-conotoxins, their sequences do not share significant homology. Thus, mr1e could be defined as a novel conotoxin family. By intracranial injection into mice, mr1e showed an excitatory effect. The characterization of mr1e certainly enriches our understanding of conotoxins, and also opens an avenue for further structural and functional investigation.     

Molecular Evolution and Diversity of Conus Peptide Toxins,as Revealed by Gene Structure and Intron Sequence Analyses

Cone snails, which are predatory marine gastropods, produce a cocktail of venoms used for predation, defense and competition. The major venom component, conotoxin, has received significant attention because it is useful in neuroscience research, drug development and molecular diversity studies. In this study, we report the genomic characterization of nine conotoxin gene superfamilies from 18 Conus species and investigate the relationships among conotoxin gene structure, molecular evolution and diversity. The I1, I2, M, O2, O3, P, S, and T superfamily precursors all contain three exons and two introns, while A superfamily members contain two exons and one intron. The introns are conserved within a certain gene superfamily, and also conserved across different Conus species, but divergent among different superfamilies. The intronic sequences contain many simple repeat sequences and regulatory elements that may influence conotoxin gene expression. Furthermore, due to the unique gene structure of conotoxins, the base substitution rates and the number of positively selected sites vary greatly among exons. Many more point mutations and trinucleotide indels were observed in the mature peptide exon than in the other exons. In addition, the first example of alternative splicing in conotoxin genes was found. These results suggest that the diversity of conotoxin genes has been shaped by point mutations and indels, as well as rare gene recombination or alternative splicing events, and that the unique gene structures could have made a contribution to the evolution of conotoxin genes.