ArticleMolecular biology and evolution2024
χ-Conotoxins are an Evolutionary Innovation of Mollusk-Hunting Cone Snails as a Counter-Adaptation to Prey Defense.
Article in Molecular biology and evolution, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- From neuropeptides to toxins: illuminating the origins of venom complexity in cone snails.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Structural and functional basis of antinociceptive action of χ-conotoxin AoIA at the noradrenaline transporter.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026Article
- From Marine Peptides to Oncology: The Therapeutic Potential of Conotoxins in Cancer Treatment.Chemistry & biodiversity · 2026Review
- From marine predator to pharmacology: Conotoxin diversity, discovery, and therapeutic potential.Zoological research · 2026Review
- Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction Provides Insights into the Structural Diversification and Neofunctionalization of T-superfamily Conotoxins in Conus.Molecular biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Structural similarities reveal an expansive conotoxin family with a two-finger toxin fold.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2025Article
- From Neuropeptides to Toxins: Illuminating the Origins of Venom Complexity in Cone Snails.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- An N-Terminally Elongated Peptide From Conus rolani Defines a New Class of Ribbon α-Conotoxins Targeting Muscle nAChRs.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Mollusk-hunting (molluscivorous) cone snails belong to a monophyletic group in Conus, a genus of venomous marine snails. The molluscivorous lineage evolved from ancestral worm-hunting (vermivorous) snails ∼18 Ma. To enable the shift to a molluscivorous lifestyle, molluscivorous cone snails must solve biological problems encountered when hunting other gastropods, namely: (i) preventing prey escape and (ii) overcoming the formidable defense of the prey in the form of the molluscan shell, a problem unique to molluscivorous Conus. Here, we show that χ-conotoxins, peptides exclusively expressed in the venoms of molluscivorous Conus, provide solutions to the above problems. Injecting χ-conotoxins into the gastropod mollusk Aplysia californica results in impaired locomotion and uncoordinated hyperactivity. Impaired locomotion impedes escape, and a hyperactive snail will likely emerge from its shell, negating the protection the shell provides. Thus, χ-conotoxins are an evolutionary innovation that accompanied the emergence of molluscivory in Conus and provide solutions to problems posed by hunting other snails.
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