Conopeptide production through biosustainable snail farming

Abstract

An area of intensive focus and research has been in the study of conopeptides isolated from cone snail venom. These complex peptide venoms contain between 50 and 100 different bioactive substances, many of which can be utilized for a variety of anthropogenic needs. Bioprospecting from this limited marine resource has caused ecological concerns, echoing that selected Conus species should be listed under CITES to avoid their demise. Utilizing captive husbandry techniques to promote biosustainable methods for venom collection, links were established between venom volume and snail size, venom volume and seasonality, venom volume and time in captivity, lunar phase and feed rate and lunar phase and venom diversity to maximize venom peptide diversity and output from cone snails as a valuable pharmacological source.