Conidae - Cone Snail Venom Characteristics and Biotech

Cone Snail Venom Characteristics and Biotech

There are around 30 records of humans killed by a cone snail. Human victims suffer little pain, because the venom contains an analgesic component. Some species can kill a human in under 5 minutes, from where the name "cigarette snail" as one only has time to smoke a cigarette before dying. The molluscs can attack if provoked and can sting through a wetsuit with their harpoon, which resembles a transparent needle.

Normally cone snails (and many species in the superfamily Conoidea) use the venom to immobilize prey. It consists of a mixture of peptides, called conopeptides. Their venom is made up of 10 to 30 amino acids, but occasionally as many as 60. The venom of each cone snail species may contain as many as 200 pharmacologically active components. It is estimated that more than 50,000 conopeptides can be found because every species of cone snail is thought to produce its own specific venom.

Cone snail venom, in more recent years, has come to interest biotechnologists and pharmacists because of its potential medicinal properties. Production of synthetic conopeptides has started, using solid-phase peptide synthesis.

W-conopeptide, from the species Conus magus was used in the analgesic drug Prialt, an approved treatment for pain said to be 1000 times as powerful as morphine. Conopeptides are also being looked at as anti-epileptic agents and to help stop nerve-cell death after a stroke or head injury. Conopeptides also have possibilities in helping spasms due to spinal cord injuries, and may be helpful in diagnosing and treating small cell carcinomas in the lung.

The biotechnology surrounding cone snails and their venom has promise for medical breakthroughs; with more than 50,000 conopeptides to study, the possibilities are numerous.