American Journal of Drug Discovery and Development2150-427x2150-4296Academic Journals Inc.10.3923/ajdd.2011.49.57RamasamyM. Santhana ArumugamP. ManikandanS. MuruganA. 1201111Marine gastropod molluscs known as cone snails produce a complex array of over 50,000 peptides evolved for defense and prey capture. These venom peptides of predatory snails represent a rich combinatorial like library of evolutionary selected, neuro pharmacologically active. A major portion of the venom components are small, disulphide rich peptides that potently and specifically target and modulate components of the neuromuscular system, particularly ligand gated, voltage gated ion channels and transporters, making them a valuable source of new ligands for studying the role of these targets play in normal and disease physiology. Conotoxins are genetically encoded a propeptides which following expression and cleaved by specialized endoprotease to produce the mature venom peptide. 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