Marine sponges toxins, animal

Many animal peptide toxins have been characterised by NMR spectroscopy, including examples from species as diverse as marine sponges to mammals. Although these peptides vary significantly in their sequence, structure and function, they do share common features, such as the structural motifs present and their activities. For example, many toxins target ion channels or have antimicrobial activity. In this section, we have chosen examples from the vast array of available peptide toxin structures to illustrate this structural and functional diversity and similarity. 

Additional biological properties have been reported from toxins of marine origin, such as actin-inhibitory activity [527,528], and inactivation of a serotonin-gated ion channel [529], More recently, marine toxins have also been identified from sea cucumbers [530], and coral reef animals [531], These toxins, which have been detected in zoanthid species of the genus Palythoa, also occur in various marine organisms living in dose association with zoanthid colonies, e g., sponges, soft corals, mussels and crustaceans. 

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