The M-superfamily of conotoxins: a review

• Published in: Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS Vol. 67; no. 1; pp. 17 - 27
• Main Authors: Jacob, Reed B., McDougal, Owen M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel SP Birkhäuser Verlag Basel 01-01-2010; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Biochemistry; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Cell Biology; Cellular biology; Conotoxins - chemistry; Conotoxins - classification; Conus Snail - metabolism; Disulfides - chemistry; Life Sciences; Molecular biology; Molecular Sequence Data; Mollusks; Peptides; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Review; Sequence Alignment; Toxins; M-superfamily; Review; Conotoxin; Marine snail; Peptide; Venom
• ISSN: 1420-682X; 1420-9071
• DOI: 10.1007/s00018-009-0125-0

The focus of this review is the M-superfamily of
Conus
venom peptides. Disulfide rich peptides belonging to the M-superfamily have three loop regions and the cysteine arrangement: CC–C–C–CC, where the dashes represent loops one, two, and three, respectively. Characterization of M-superfamily peptides has demonstrated that diversity in cystine connectivity occurs between different branches of peptides even though the cysteine pattern remains consistent. This superfamily is subdivided into five branches, M-1 through M-5, based on the number of residues in the third loop region, between the fourth and fifth cysteine residues. M-superfamily peptides appear to be ubiquitous in
Conus
venom. They are largely unexplained in indigenous biological function, and they represent an active area of research within the scientific community.