"The Secret History of Spider Venom’s Paralytic Power" Topic
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| Tango01 | 12 Jun 2015 9:43 p.m. PST |
"Spiders are radical. Eight legs, plural eyes, armored bodies, silk-shooting butts, and best of all: venom. Delivered through stiletto-sharp fangs, spider venom shuts down a victim's central nervous system, rendering it paralyzed—or dead—so the spider can turn its innards to mush and gulp down the organ soup. But spider venom's origin story has vexed biologists for years. Unlike snake and lizard venom, the origins of the venom deployed by arthropods like spiders and centipedes are still a scientific mystery. Also, snake and lizard venom all trace back, evolutionarily, to a single species. But venom in arthropods evolved in multiple ancestors, from different genetic pathways that converged on similar chemical toxins. Figuring out how all that happened isn't just academic; the toxins in venom can also be used to make new types of pesticides and novel drugs. A new study, published today in the journal Structure, solves some toxic mysteries in a venom shared by several species of spider and centipede…"
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