Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
8.2
4.0
Journals
Toxins
Special Issues
Toxins from Venoms and Poisons
share announcement

Toxins from Venoms and Poisons

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Venoms".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 2516

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Horacio Heras

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata “Prof. Dr. Rodolfo R. Brenner”, INIBIOLP (CONICET-UNLP), La Plata, Buenos Aires Argentina
Interests: pore-forming toxins; lectins; toxin structure-function-evolution; snail chemical defense
Dr. Matias Leonel Giglio

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA
Interests: venoms; poisons; pore-forming toxins; neurotoxins
Dr. Marcos Sebastián Dreon

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata “Prof. Dr. Rodolfo R. Brenner”, INIBIOLP (CONICET-UNLP), La Plata, Buenos Aires Argentina
Interests: the structure, function, and evolution of invertebrate proteins; mollusc proteins

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to gather cutting-edge research on the diverse molecular strategies used by organisms to defend against predators or competitors and to subdue prey or hosts. Venoms and poisons, whether delivered through specialized structures or passively accumulated, are rich sources of bioactive compounds that mediate complex ecological interactions. Despite advances in toxinomics and molecular biology, many of these toxins remain poorly characterized, and their evolutionary origins and adaptive roles are still underexplored.

We welcome original research and reviews addressing the structure, function, or evolution of defense and attack toxins across animal taxa as well as future perspectives within the field. Topics may include, but are not limited to, biochemical characterization, molecular targets, ecological functions, pharmacological potential, and biotechnological applications. This issue seeks to stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue and highlight current challenges, such as standardizing nomenclature, understanding convergent evolution, and identifying novel bioactive compounds. We invite contributions from molecular biologists, biochemists, ecologists, pharmacologists, and evolutionary biologists to advance our understanding of how nature has shaped such sophisticated chemical arsenals. We look forward to receiving your submissions and hope to advance this research field together.

Dr. Horacio Heras
Dr. Matias Leonel Giglio
Dr. Marcos Sebastián Dreon
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.

Keywords

  • animal toxins
  • chemical defense
  • chemical attack

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 1416 KB  
Article
Profiling the Paralytic Effects and Lethality of Cone Snail Venom Toxins Using Nanofractionation Analytics with In Vivo Zebrafish Larvae Assays
by Jeroen Kool, Arif Arrahman, Haifeng Xu, Jiaxing Liu, Richard J. Lewis, Christian Tudorache and Fernanda C. Cardoso
Toxins 2025, 17(10), 504; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins17100504 - 13 Oct 2025
Abstract
This study presents nanofractionation analytics coupled with in vivo profiling of zebrafish embryo paralysis and lethality in response to toxins in cone snail venoms. The focus of this study is on the development of this approach using venoms of Conus marmoreus, Conus [...] Read more.
This study presents nanofractionation analytics coupled with in vivo profiling of zebrafish embryo paralysis and lethality in response to toxins in cone snail venoms. The focus of this study is on the development of this approach using venoms of Conus marmoreus, Conus ebraeus, and Conus bandanus. In brief, cone snail venoms were separated using reversed-phase chromatography following high-resolution nanofractionation on microplates with parallel mass spectrometry, enabled via a post-column flow split. All collected fractions were dried overnight, followed by assays on zebrafish embryos. For the paralysis assessment, we monitored swimming behavior and swimming distance and found that exposure to cone snail toxins led to paralysis and decreased movement and swim distance. To correlate the masses of eluted toxins with their paralyzing effects and potency, we compared the fractionation retention time versus normalized swimming distance. This allowed identification of the masses of toxins with paralyzing bioactivity, which were predominantly conopeptides. To assess lethality, zebrafish embryos were exposed to fractionated toxins for 24 h, after which they were inspected. The lethal doses and correlated toxins were identified by comparing retention times of fractionation versus the lethal dose values calculated for each fraction. We found that the most lethal venom was from C. bandanus, displaying the largest number of lethal peptides, followed by C. marmoreus and C. ebraeus. On the other hand, the most paralytic venom was from C. ebraeus, presenting a higher number of peptides with non-lethal paralytic effects, followed by C. bandanus and C. marmoreus. This study provides a pipeline to rapidly identify paralytic and lethal cone snail venom toxins using the zebrafish embryo model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Toxins from Venoms and Poisons)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 2398 KB  
Article
Heating up the Blunts: Prothrombin Activation, with Factor Va as an Obligate Cofactor, Is the Dominant Procoagulant Mechanism of Blunt-Nosed Viper Venoms (Macrovipera Species)
by Patrick S. Champagne, Lorenzo Seneci and Bryan G. Fry
Toxins 2025, 17(8), 398; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins17080398 - 8 Aug 2025
Viewed by 2340
Abstract
Venoms of the Palearctic vipers in the Macrovipera genus cause severe procoagulant clinical effects, yet the precise molecular targets remain incompletely defined. To fill this toxicological knowledge gap, we tested five Macrovipera venoms—M. lebetina cernovi, M. l. obtusa, M. l. [...] Read more.
Venoms of the Palearctic vipers in the Macrovipera genus cause severe procoagulant clinical effects, yet the precise molecular targets remain incompletely defined. To fill this toxicological knowledge gap, we tested five Macrovipera venoms—M. lebetina cernovi, M. l. obtusa, M. l. turanica (Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan localities), and M. schweizeri—using plasma clotting assays, Factors VII, X, XI, and XII and prothrombin zymogen activation assays, and SDS-PAGE to visualise Factor V (FV) cleavage. All venoms induced extremely rapid clot formation (10.5–12.5 s) compared with the negative control (spontaneous clotting) of 334.6 ± 3.6 s) and the positive control (kaolin trigger) of 55.8 ± 1.9 s. Activation of FVII or FXI was negligible, whereas consistent FX activation and species-variable FXII activation, both moderate, were observed. Prothrombin remained inert in the absence of cofactors, but the presence of FV or FVa elicited potent thrombin generation. SDS-PAGE confirmed proteolytic conversion of the 330 kDa FV zymogen into the ~105 kDa heavy and ~80 kDa light chains of FVa by the venoms of all species. This data demonstrates that Macrovipera venoms rely on a dual enzyme strategy: (i) activation of FV to FVa by serine proteases and (ii) FVa-dependent prothrombin activation by metalloproteases. These results reveal that prothrombin activation is the dominant procoagulant pathway and overshadows the historically emphasised FX activation. This mechanism mirrors, yet is evolutionarily independent from, the FXa:FVa prothrombinase formation seen in Australian elapid venoms, highlighting convergent evolution of cofactor-hijacking strategies among snakes. The discovery of potent FVa-mediated prothrombin activation in Macrovipera challenges existing paradigms of viperid venom action, prompts re-evaluation of related genera (e.g., Daboia), and underpins the design of targeted antivenom and therapeutic interventions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Toxins from Venoms and Poisons)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop