Summary: Cone snail venoms have a wide variety of effects, ranging from convulsive shock, to paralysis, to sedation. The venoms contain a mixture of peptide toxins that simultaneously attack different molecular targets of the nervous system. The evolution of such a diversity of toxins is made possible by multiple gene superfamilies containing hypervariable sequences. The research and medical value of a group of animals like the cone snails is a powerful reminder of what we can learn from biodiversity. Venomous relatives of the cone snails–the turrid snails–number over 10,000 known species, representing a million compounds of potential pharmacological value.
