Current Status and Emerging Trends in the Biodiscovery of Canonical Toxins and Bioactive Peptides from Cnidarians
A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine and Freshwater Toxins".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 333
Special Issue Editors
Interests: toxins; animal venoms; marine and fresh toxins; OMICs; biodiscovery; bioinformatics; transcriptomics; proteomics; toxicology; bioactive peptides
Interests: computational biology; biodiscovery; chemo- and bioinformatics; bioactive peptides; antimicrobial peptides (AMPs); biotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Cnidarians, including jellyfish, corals, and sea anemones, are renowned for the diversity and widespread distribution of toxins among their members. Modern omics technologies, such as genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics, have revolutionized our understanding of cnidarian venoms, revealing a complex array of toxin families. These include Phospholipase A2, Metalloproteases, Pore-Forming Toxins, Neurotoxins, Proteinase Inhibitors, Small Cysteine-Rich Peptides, ASIC Inhibitors, TRPV1 Inhibitors, and various Peptide/Non-Protein Bioactive Components. Despite these significant advancements, the venomous potential of most cnidarian species remains underexplored, particularly those from neglected species.
This Special Issue aims to present an updated overview of both canonical toxins and toxin-like peptides identified across different cnidarian classes—Hydrozoa, Scyphozoa, Cubozoa, Staurozoa, and Anthozoa. We will also explore how recent advances in bioinformatics approaches—including omics, machine learning, deep learning, and artificial intelligence—have propelled the biodiscovery process forward. Our goal is to establish a comprehensive foundation for future research by delving into current methodologies, addressing challenges, highlighting innovations in the field of cnidarian venom discovery, and discussing translational advances from basic research to biotechnological applications.
Dr. Dany Domínguez Pérez
Dr. Guillermin Agüero-Chapin
Prof. Dr. Olga Castañeda
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
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Keywords
- cnidarian toxins
- bioactive peptides
- toxin-like peptides
- biodiscovery
- OMICs
- bioinformatics
- evolutionary biology
- genomics
- transcriptomics
- proteomics
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