Conus Peptides Baldomero "Toto" Olivera, May 2006 Department of Biology, University of Utah

Lecture Overview Although snails are not the first animals that come to mind when venoms are mentioned, there are in fact a large number (~10,000 species) of different venomous predatory snails. The most intensively studied of these are the cone snails (Conus), which have a large number of peptide neurotoxins present in their venoms. Some cone snail venoms are lethal to man; one species causes a 70% fatality rate. How these venoms have been used to understand the nervous system, and how the characterization of the components of the venom have led to the development of drugs is the subject of Olivera's lecture. The biology of the snails, including how some cone snails catch fish, is correlated with the venom chemistry.

Part 1: Historical Background: Discovery of a Drug (23:40) Click image above to start seminar in 320x240 format Click here to view in larger 640x480 format*   QuickTime 7 Required    *640x480 System Requirements (there may be a few seconds delay before seminars start) Downloads in alternative formats: (To Save, Right Click a link below and select "Save Target/Link As") QuickTime (48mb)     MP4 (200mb)     iPod/iPhone Video (138mb) PowerPoint Slides 1/page (540kb)     PowerPoint Slides 6/page (255kb) Format Descriptions Download Accelerator/Resume Broken Downloads Software

Part 2: How a Fish Hunting Snail Captures its Prey (21:31)   Part 3: Conus Peptide Genes a "Drug Development Program" (25.36) Speaker Bio    Related Articles