Introducing the toxin-ID nomenclature to enable storage of venom toxin data in online repositories

The naming of venom toxins was largely ad hoc until the introduction of a rational nomenclature with a structured framework for naming venom peptides conveying taxonomic, pharmacological and structural information. Unfortunately, the resulting toxin names are susceptible to frequent name changes, necessitating a more stable nomenclature extending beyond peptides for long-term storage of toxin records in online repositories. The proposed toxin ID nomenclature includes a class-level taxonomic identifier plus a unique number within each class.