Laura is a science news writer, covering a wide variety of subjects, but she is particularly fascinated by all things aquatic, paleontology, nanotechnology, and exploring how science influences daily life. Laura is a proud former resident of the New Jersey shore, a competitive swimmer, and a fierce defender of the Oxford comma.
ArticleBody:A toxin from one of the world’s most venomous animals could one day help treat diabetes and endocrine disorders. The toxin in snails called consomatin is similar to somatostatin in humans, a peptide hormone that regulates blood sugar. In cone snail venom, consomatin’s specific and long-lasting effects help the animal hunt its prey, but it could also lead to the development of better drugs for sometimes fatal diseases–if we can understand how it works.
They are found along reefs in the Pacific and Indo-Pacific, where the snails stun and eat small fish. The team measured how the cone snail’s consomatin interacts with somatostatin’s targets in human cells in a dish. They found that consomatin mingles with one of the same proteins that somatostatin does. While human somatostatin directly interacts with several proteins, consomatin only works with one.
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