Enzymes in spider venom have bioeconomic potential

As venomous animals, spiders use their chemical arsenal for prey capture or defense. Small neurotoxins target the central nervous system of their victims.

While the toxins are intensively investigated, scientists at the LOEWE Center for Translational Biodiversity Genomics (TBG) in Hesse, Germany, have turned their attention to the enzymes also contained in the complex venom cocktail.

They discovered a large, previously overlooked diversity of these proteins that facilitate biochemical reactions. According to the researchers, these could be of great value for bioeconomic applications.

With about 52,000 species worldwide, spiders are particularly diverse and produce the most complex of all animal venoms: The venom of only a single species can contain more than 3,000 molecules. These belong mainly to the group of small neurotoxins and are used to overpower insects.

"In the past, a few pioneering studies suggested the presence of enzymes in spider venoms, but a targeted search for them has never been carried out. We took on this task and systematically screened the raw data of all so far venom-wise analyzed spiders for enzymes.

We were able to show that there are in fact more than 140 different enzyme families in their venom," explains study leader Dr. Tim Lüddecke, head of the Animal Venomics working group at the IME-BR in Giessen.

Image source: Louis Roth.