Spider venom peptides Ht1a and Gg1a are toxic to honeybee parasite Varroa destructor by topical application

Volker Herzig; Shaodong Guo; David A Eagles; Sandy S Pineda; Alexandra Robinson; Asa Andersson; Jennifer Deuis; Zoltan Dekan; Paul F Alewood; Eivind A B Undheim; Maxime Lammens; Frank Bosmans; Irina Vetter; Glenn F King; Vincent Dietemann

doi:10.1038/s44386-026-00050-9

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Spider venom peptides Ht1a and Gg1a are toxic to honeybee parasite Varroa destructor by topical application

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Spider venom peptides Ht1a and Gg1a are toxic to honeybee parasite Varroa destructor by topical application

Volker Herzig, Shaodong Guo, David A Eagles, Sandy S Pineda, Alexandra Robinson, Asa Andersson, Jennifer Deuis, Zoltan Dekan, Paul F Alewood, Eivind A B Undheim, …

npj Drug Discovery, Vol.3, pp.1-10

2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44386-026-00050-9

PMID: 42253431

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Abstract

Chemical biology

Biochemistry

Ecology

Zoology

Global food supply strongly depends on honeybee pollination services, which are threatened by insecticides and pests such as parasitic Varroa destructor mites. Chemical varroacides/acaricides are hampered by resistance development, necessitating the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives, with arthropod venom peptides being considered promising sources of acaricidal toxins. With only a few acaricidal venom peptides being reported, we performed a systematic topical screening of 50 arthropod venoms against V. destructor, with 78% of the venoms causing 100% mortality after 24 h. Deconvolution of the venoms from the Tasmanian cave spider Hickmania troglodytes and the Giant Japanese funnel-web spider Gigathele gigas led to identification of the varroacidal peptides Ht1a and Gg1a. Topical application of Ht1a and Gg1a reduced varroa mite but not honeybee survival, despite Ht1a inhibiting voltage-gated sodium channels from varroa and honeybee with equal potency. Ht1a and Gg1a were inactive against human skeletal muscle (hNaV1.4), cardiac (NaV1.5), neuronal NaV channel isoforms, and human voltage-gated calcium channel CaV2.2. At human α3β2/4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, Gg1a was inactive while 10 µM of Ht1a partially blocked nicotine-mediated Ca2+ influx. Our data reveal Ht1a and Gg1a as promising candidates for the development of novel varroa mite treatments of honeybee hives.

Details

Title: Spider venom peptides Ht1a and Gg1a are toxic to honeybee parasite Varroa destructor by topical application
Authors: Volker Herzig (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Shaodong Guo - University of the Sunshine Coast
David A Eagles - The University of Queensland
Sandy S Pineda - The University of Queensland
Alexandra Robinson - The University of Queensland
Asa Andersson - The University of Queensland
Jennifer Deuis - The University of Queensland
Zoltan Dekan - The University of Queensland
Paul F Alewood - The University of Queensland
Eivind A B Undheim - University of Oslo
Maxime Lammens - Ghent University Hospital
Frank Bosmans - Ghent University Hospital
Irina Vetter - The University of Queensland
Glenn F King - The University of Queensland
Vincent Dietemann (Corresponding Author) - Agroscope
Publication details: npj Drug Discovery, Vol.3, pp.1-10
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Date published: 2026
DOI: 10.1038/s44386-026-00050-9
ISSN: 3005-1452
PMID: 42253431
Copyright note: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Data Availability: All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files. Metadata and annotated nucleotide sequences were deposited in the European Nucleotide Archive under project accessions: PRJEB15860.
Grants: Be(e) friendly venomous spiders! Novel biopesticides from arachnid venoms, FT190100482, Australian Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - ARC
Venoms to drugs: translating venom peptides into human therapeutics, 2035090, National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - NHMRC
Mechanistic and pharmacological insights into peripheral sensory neuron function in physiological and pathological pain, 2017086, National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia, Canberra) - NHMRC
Grant note: European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant 101039862 to EABU). ML was funded by an FWO fundamental research fellowship under application 1125923N.
Organisation Unit: School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Centre for Bioinnovation
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991241198402621
Output Type: Journal article

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