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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2021 Apr 6.
Published in final edited form as: Chem Rev. 2014 Apr 10;114(11):5815–47. doi: 10.1021/cr400401e

Figure 2. Conotoxin nomenclature.

Figure 2

Conotoxin naming convention is based on the NC-IUPHAR system. The first letter in Greek indicates the conotoxin’s pharmacological target i.e. α-conotoxin targeting the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. The next one or two uppercase letters represent the species from which it was isolated in this case, Conus Pennaceus. This is followed by a Roman numeral, I, providing information on the disulfide framework (e.g.: CC-C-C). Finally, an uppercase letter denotes the order of discovery of the conotoxin within that category. If the mechanism of action of the conotoxin is yet to be determined, the Greek letter is omitted, the species name is in lower case letters, an Arabic numeral is used to designate the disulfide bonding pattern, and a small letter is used to specify the peptide variant.