CONBIOS

Cone snail toxins as therapeutic agents: Decoding biological mechanisms of conotoxin folding

 Coordinatore KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET 

 Organization address postcode: 1017

contact info
Titolo: Mrs.
Nome: Tine
Cognome: Mathiesen
Email: send email
Telefono: 4535322810
Fax: 4535324612

 Nazionalità Coordinatore Denmark [DK]
 Totale costo 294˙456 €
 EC contributo 294˙456 €
 Programma FP7-PEOPLE
Specific programme "People" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)
 Code Call FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF
 Funding Scheme MC-IOF
 Anno di inizio 2013
 Periodo (anno-mese-giorno) 2013-05-01   -   2017-03-31

 Partecipanti

# participant  country  role  EC contrib. [€] 
1 KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET DK coordinator 294˙456.30

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Esplora la "nuvola delle parole (Word Cloud) per avere un'idea di massima del progetto.

protein    modification    proper    agents    disulfide    synthesis    folding    small    molecular    pharmacology    generation    specificity    peptides    conotoxins    venom   

 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'Predatory marine cone snails use extraordinarily complex venoms to capture prey. Most of the ~500,000 biologically active venom components are small, disulfide-rich peptides called conotoxins. They target receptors and ion channels of the nervous system with remarkable potency and specificity. Due to their enormous diversity and target specificity, conotoxins have become invaluable tools in molecular pharmacology and as therapeutic agents. However, their chemical synthesis is hampered by multiple disulfide bonds and additional post-translational modifications, which result in low folding yields and accumulation of aggregated or misfolded products. Recently observed differences between in vitro and in vivo synthesis strongly indicate that folding and modification of conotoxins in the endoplasmic reticulum of the venom glandular cells are tightly regulated processes. Understanding mechanisms that govern the proper assembly of conotoxins at a molecular level is a prerequisite for designing more efficient production systems for conotoxins and other disulfide-rich peptides of biological and pharmacological importance. By using next-generation sequencing, bottom-up proteomics, protein-protein interaction and molecular silencing technologies, this study will elucidate crucial pathways for the oxidative folding and modification of conotoxins. These results will be used to develop a cell-based expression system for conotoxins that are difficult or impossible to synthesise chemically, thus providing novel agents for pharmacotherapeutic studies. While our knowledge on the proper folding of larger protein substrates is constantly improving, research into the generation of small, disulfide-containing peptides is a newly emerging field. By bringing together world-leading scientists in conotoxin pharmacology and protein folding, this project will develop excellent scientific and leadership competences at a high level for a young talented European scientist.'

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