Characterization of Conus textile predatory venom by capillary electrophoresis hyphenated to mass spectrometry

Cone snails are marine predators that use potent venom comprising mostly peptides rich in post translational modifications such as glycosylation or acetylation to subdue prey and deter predators. The complexity of the venom varies depending on the species; as an exemple, more than 1000 different peptides have been previously detected in Conus textile. In order to address this complexity as comprehensively as possible, capillary electrophoresis hyphenated to mass spectrometry (CE-MS) was evaluated alongside conventional liquid chromatography hyphenated to mass spectrometry (LC-MS). The advantage of CE is that it can operate under native-like conditions and allow the simultaneous analysis of peptide mixtures with broad polarities. In this study, CE-MS was used to analyze the predatory venom of C. textile, and venom peptides (known as conotoxins) were identified based on their monoisotopic masses. The complementarity of LC and CE analytical methods was demonstrated, but importantly, most ions detected by CE-MS required 600 to 1000 times less material compared to LC-MS, which is a major asset when dealing with limited samples such as venoms.