Molecular Characterization of the Injected Venom of Conus Ermineus
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Molecular Characterization of the Injected Venom of Conus ermineus by Jose A. Rivera-Ortiz A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL December 2011 © Copyright by Jose A Rivera-Ortiz 2011 Acknowledgements I would like to extend my gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Frank Mari for his guidance and time. Special thanks to Dr. Mari’s research group for their collaboration and the quality time they spent to make this work possible. Thanks also are due to Michael Bushman, Sanaz Dovell, Herminsul Cano, Carolina Moller, Hussam Abassi, Simon Bully, Orette Williams, Mari Heghinian, Danny Rojas, Adriana Pak, Craig Forbes and Frans Badenhorst . My special thanks go to Dr. Christian Melaun for his collaboration and to Dr. Seth Elsheimer and Dr. Otto Phanstiel for their support and words of encouragement. Finally, I especially would like to thank God for allowing me to come this far. iv Abstract Author: Jose A. Rivera-Ortiz Title: Molecular Characterization of the Injected Venom of Conus ermineus Institution: Florida Atlantic University Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Frank Mari Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Year: 2011 Cone snails are predatory marine animals that rely on their venom components to immobilize and capture their prey. According to the type of prey preference, cone snails can be divided into three groups: vermivorous, molluscivorous and piscivorous. Conus ermineus had been identified as the only piscivorous snail of the Atlantic Ocean. Cone snail venom is a complex and rich sources of natural toxins. The majority of the components of the venom are peptidic in nature, and they act over different ionic channels and membrane receptors. Initial studies using mixture of venom collected from dissected venom ducts concluded that the venom from the same species do not exhibit unusual peptide polymorphism [Olivera, Hillyard, et al., 1995] and that the only major difference between individuals of the same species are different concentrations of the venom components [Vianna, et al., 2005]. For this study, peptides in the injected venom were collected from individual snails and characterized using analytical RP-HPLC for a maximum of three years. The v different fractions collected were processed through capillary HPLC coupled with Q-TOF ESI-MS, and compared with analytical RP-HPLC fractions processed with MALDI-TOF MS. This study demonstrates that there is an animal-to-animal variation in the peptide components of the injected venom. The injected venom remains relatively constant over time for specific specimens in captivity. Finally, there are some peptides that had been found in all specimens both by MALDI-TOF MS and by ESI-MS. In this study, these peptides are called “molecular fingerprint” peptides. Based on matches of their derived masses to those predicted by published cDNA sequences, nine novel peptides were putatively identified. This study establishes that variations due to enzymatic posttranslational modification are omitted when we consider only information extrapolated from cDNA. The results of this study support the idea of the existence of a novel regulatory mechanism to expressed specific venom peptides for injection into the prey. vi Dedication This work is dedicated to all my extended family, but especially to my wife Marta, my son Cacimar and my mother Ricarda Ortiz. vii Molecular Characterization of the Injected Venom of Conus ermineus List of Figures...................................................................................................................xii List of Tables .................................................................................................................... xv List of Abbreviations and Symbols..................................................................................xvi Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 General Physiological and Anatomical Characteristics of Cone Snails ................. 1 1.2 Cone Snail’s Habitat ............................................................................................... 8 1.3 Cone Snail Classification...................................................................................... 10 1.4 Cone Venom Composition and Classification...................................................... 12 1.4.1 Conopressins................................................................................................ 15 1.4.2 Contryphans ................................................................................................. 16 1.4.3 Conantokins ................................................................................................. 24 1.4.4 Contulakins .................................................................................................. 26 1.4.5 Conorfamides............................................................................................... 26 1.4.6 The α-conotoxins ......................................................................................... 28 1.4.7 The αA-conotoxin ........................................................................................ 33 1.4.8 The κA-conotoxins....................................................................................... 34 1.4.9 The ψ-conotoxins......................................................................................... 34 1.4.10 The σ-conotoxins ....................................................................................... 34 1.4.11 The χ-conotoxins........................................................................................ 35 viii 1.4.12 The μ-conotoxins ....................................................................................... 35 1.4.13 The μO-conotoxins .................................................................................... 36 1.4.14 The δ-conotoxins........................................................................................ 36 1.4.15 The κ-conotoxins ....................................................................................... 36 1.4.16 The κM-conotoxins.................................................................................... 37 1.4.17 The VcTx-conotoxins ................................................................................ 37 1.4.18 The ω-conotoxins....................................................................................... 37 1.5 Cone Snail Venom Efficiency .............................................................................. 37 Chapter 2: Comparative Analysis of Injected Venom vs. Dissected Venom in Conus ermineus................................................................................................................. 41 2.1 Background and Strategy...................................................................................... 41 2.2 Materials and Methods.......................................................................................... 43 2.2.1 Specimen Collection ................................................................................... 43 2.2.2 Injected Venom Extraction and Feeding...................................................... 45 2.2.3 NanoNMR Spectroscopy ............................................................................. 45 2.2.4 MALDI-TOF MS Analysis of the Injected Venom and Venom Fractions................................................................................................................ 47 2.2.5 Analytical RP-HPLC of Injected Venom .................................................... 47 2.2.6 Nanoflow LC–ESI-MS Analysis of the Injected Venom and Analytical RP-HPLC Fractions .............................................................................................. 48 2.2.7 Peptide Sequencing...................................................................................... 49 2.3 Results............................................................................................................. 49 2.3.1 Conus ermineus Behavior in Aquaria.......................................................... 49 ix 2.3.2 Injected Venom Characterization by NMR ................................................. 50 2.3.3. Injected Venom Characterization by MALDI-TOF MS ............................ 53 2.3.4 RP-HPLC Profiles of Injected Venom and MALDI-TOF MS of RP-HPLC of Fractions.......................................................................................... 55 2.3.5 NanoLC–ESI-MS of Injected Venom and RP-HPLC Venom Fractions..... 56 2.3.6 Biomarkers and Molecular Fingerprinting................................................... 57 2.4 Discussion....................................................................................................... 62 Chapter 3: Discovery of Peptide Components in the Pooled Injected Venom of Conus ermineus................................................................................................................. 69 3.1 Introduction..................................................................................................... 69 3.2 Materials and Methods.................................................................................... 72 3.2.1 mRNA-Extraction........................................................................................ 73 3.2.2 cDNA Synthesis..........................................................................................