Francisco M. Heralde et al. (2006) East Asia C. elegans Meeting "Novel Marine Gastropod Toxins and Toxin Precursors: Their Potential Use in Elucidating Neural Function"

Diarey B. Tianero, Maren Watkins, Baldomero M. Olivera, Francisco M. Heralde, Carlo M. Lapid, Ma. Aiko Angela A. Diaz, Mary Anne C. Astilla, Gisela P. Concepcion, Cynthia P. Saloma, Ameurfina D. Santos

[East Asia C. elegans Meeting, 2006]

Several members of the marine gastropod belonging to suborder Toxoglossa were reported to be wormhunters, feeding largely on polychaetes as verified by molecular analysis of their regurgitated tissues. Toxins and toxin precursors of these marine gastropods were isolated and cloned respectively from their venom duct tissues. The toxins isolated from members this group (augertoxins) were earlier demonstrated to exhibit biological activity in terms of uncoordinated twisting in a C.elegans bioassay. Parallel behavioral responses were observed when crude venom extracts from several related species were injected in the third abdominal segment of mealworms. The precursor sequences cloned from cDNA libraries of the venom duct tissues yielded interesting novel toxin patterns which could be tested in C.elegans . The novel toxin precursors cloned were P-like, I-like, O-like, 2-disulfides, RGD-peptides, and several unidentified forms. Work is currently underway to generate gene constructs of the cloned toxin precursors for expression in C.elegans and other expression systems to elucidate their activity and explore their potential use as probes of neural function.