Animal toxins - Nature's evolutionary-refined toolkit for basic research and drug discovery

Biochemical Pharmacology
Volker HerzigGlenn F King

Abstract

Venomous animals have evolved toxins that interfere with specific components of their victim's core physiological systems, thereby causing biological dysfunction that aids in prey capture, defense against predators, or other roles such as intraspecific competition. Many animal lineages evolved venom systems independently, highlighting the success of this strategy. Over the course of evolution, toxins with exceptional specificity and high potency for their intended molecular targets have prevailed, making venoms an invaluable and almost inexhaustible source of bioactive molecules, some of which have found use as pharmacological tools, human therapeutics, and bioinsecticides. Current biomedically-focused research on venoms is directed towards their use in delineating the physiological role of toxin molecular targets such as ion channels and receptors, studying or treating human diseases, targeting vectors of human diseases, and treating microbial and parasitic infections. We provide examples of each of these areas of venom research, highlighting the potential that venom molecules hold for basic research and drug development.

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Citations

Jan 10, 2021·Redox Biology·Ildiko SzaboLucia Biasutto
Dec 12, 2020·Toxicon : Official Journal of the International Society on Toxinology·Tobias J Hauke, Volker Herzig
Dec 20, 2020·Toxicon : Official Journal of the International Society on Toxinology·Masahiro MiyashitaHisashi Miyagawa
Oct 3, 2020·Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications·Minzhi ChenZhonghua Liu
Apr 25, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Andrew A WalkerGlenn F King
Apr 30, 2021·Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery·Taylor B Smallwood, Richard J Clark
May 1, 2021·Biomedicines·Volker Herzig
May 2, 2021·Medicinal Research Reviews·Špela GubičLucija P Mašič
Aug 7, 2021·Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology·Diego Rodney Rodrigues de AssisFabiana Simão Machado
Aug 21, 2021·Toxicon : Official Journal of the International Society on Toxinology·Jonas KrämerReinhard Predel
Aug 30, 2021·Toxicon : Official Journal of the International Society on Toxinology·Karoline SanchesRaymond S Norton
Oct 19, 2021·Proteins·Biswajit Gorai, Harish Vashisth
Aug 31, 2020·Toxicon : Official Journal of the International Society on Toxinology·Hilania V Dodou LimaGandhi Rádis-Baptista

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
enzyme-linked
fluorescence-resonance
dissection
transgenic

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