Structure, Function and Evolution of Conotoxins

Dear Colleagues,

Marine snails of the genus Conus produce complex venoms that contain a wide variety of bioactive peptide toxins, known as conotoxins. Conotoxins are highly diverse in sequence and are rich in disulfide bonds that are crucial for structural stability. They often target cell surface receptors and channels to disrupt prey physiology. In recent years, we have seen a surge in available toxin sequence data obtained using transcriptomics and proteomics approaches. This vast resource presents a range of exciting possibilities for the field, but at the same time illuminates the relative paucity of available structural and functional information.

This Special Issue is dedicated to research that expands our knowledge about conotoxin structure, function, and evolution, and the intriguing interplay between the three. Covering a broad range of topics, this Special Issue will include papers that investigate conotoxins from poorly characterized toxin families, as well as detailed accounts of structure–function relationships in toxins from well-known families. We also encourage submissions that describe conoidean toxins other than conotoxins within these same overarching topics. Moreover, we welcome contributions describing the development of new methodologies concerning, for instance, the production of conotoxins, the identification of their molecular targets, the analysis of post-translational modifications, and the improved structural prediction of disulfide-rich peptides. Review articles that describe existing knowledge and present current challenges in the field, as well as ideas for future research, are encouraged. 

Prof. Dr. Lars Ellgaard
Dr. Thomas Lund Koch
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• conotoxins
• conoidean toxins
• disulfide bonds
• functional assays
• molecular evolution
• phylogenetics
• structure–activity relationship
• structure determination
• structure prediction