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Journal article
Grand challenges in arachnid toxinology and biochemistry
Frontiers in Arachnid Science, Vol.2, pp.1-5
2023
Abstract
Venom usage within arachnids is limited to spiders, scorpions, pseudoscorpions, ticks, and maybe even camel spiders if the toxic secretion from their epidermal glands is considered as venom (Aruchami and Sundara Rajulu, 1978; von Reumont et al., 2014). Among the venomous arachnids, spiders and scorpions have received by far the most attention from researchers (von Reumont et al., 2014). Overall, venomous arachnids comprise around 60,000 described extant species, with many more species yet to be characterized (Rein, 2023; World Arachnid Catalog, 2023). Venomous arachnids use their venoms mainly for prey capture and defense (Simone and van der Meijden, 2021; Lüddecke et al., 2022), although some spiders and scorpions use their venom coercively for courtship [males making females more compliant by “sexual bites or stings”; (Sentenska et al., 2020; Olguin-Perez et al., 2021)] and ticks employ venom to facilitate their parasitic lifestyle (Cabezas-Cruz and Valdes, 2014). Arachnid venoms are complex mixtures of metabolites, peptides, proteins and enzymes containing hundreds or even thousands of individual components for each species (Pineda et al., 2020). While arachnids employ these components to provide them with an evolutionary advantage in their respective ecological niche, researchers have realized that the astounding diversity of arachnid venom components can be utilized for the benefit of humanity. For example, applications as therapeutics, bioinsecticides, antiparasitic treatments or for diagnostic purposes are being actively pursued. I therefore hope the realization that arachnids could be beneficial for humans will eventually change their mostly negative public perception as being repulsive and potentially deadly. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss some ongoing and future challenges for toxinological and biochemical research on arachnids which also provides an opportunity to further expand our knowledge on these exciting creatures.
Details
- Title
- Grand challenges in arachnid toxinology and biochemistry
- Authors
- Volker Herzig (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Centre for Bioinnovation
- Publication details
- Frontiers in Arachnid Science, Vol.2, pp.1-5
- Publisher
- Frontiers Research Foundation
- Date published
- 2023
- DOI
- 10.3389/frchs.2023.1302040
- ISSN
- 2813-5083; 2813-5083
- Copyright note
- © 2023 Herzig. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99971892502621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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