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Centipede Venom: Recent Discoveries and Current State of Knowledge

Centipedes are among the oldest extant venomous predators on the planet. Armed with a pair of modified, venom-bearing limbs, they are an important group of predatory arthropods and are infamous for their ability to deliver painful stings. Despite this, very little is known about centipede venom and...

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Autores principales: Undheim, Eivind A. B., Fry, Bryan G., King, Glenn F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4379518/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25723324
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins7030679
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author Undheim, Eivind A. B.
Fry, Bryan G.
King, Glenn F.
author_facet Undheim, Eivind A. B.
Fry, Bryan G.
King, Glenn F.
author_sort Undheim, Eivind A. B.
collection PubMed
description Centipedes are among the oldest extant venomous predators on the planet. Armed with a pair of modified, venom-bearing limbs, they are an important group of predatory arthropods and are infamous for their ability to deliver painful stings. Despite this, very little is known about centipede venom and its composition. Advances in analytical tools, however, have recently provided the first detailed insights into the composition and evolution of centipede venoms. This has revealed that centipede venom proteins are highly diverse, with 61 phylogenetically distinct venom protein and peptide families. A number of these have been convergently recruited into the venoms of other animals, providing valuable information on potential underlying causes of the occasionally serious complications arising from human centipede envenomations. However, the majority of venom protein and peptide families bear no resemblance to any characterised protein or peptide family, highlighting the novelty of centipede venoms. This review highlights recent discoveries and summarises the current state of knowledge on the fascinating venom system of centipedes.
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spelling pubmed-43795182015-05-18 Centipede Venom: Recent Discoveries and Current State of Knowledge Undheim, Eivind A. B. Fry, Bryan G. King, Glenn F. Toxins (Basel) Review Centipedes are among the oldest extant venomous predators on the planet. Armed with a pair of modified, venom-bearing limbs, they are an important group of predatory arthropods and are infamous for their ability to deliver painful stings. Despite this, very little is known about centipede venom and its composition. Advances in analytical tools, however, have recently provided the first detailed insights into the composition and evolution of centipede venoms. This has revealed that centipede venom proteins are highly diverse, with 61 phylogenetically distinct venom protein and peptide families. A number of these have been convergently recruited into the venoms of other animals, providing valuable information on potential underlying causes of the occasionally serious complications arising from human centipede envenomations. However, the majority of venom protein and peptide families bear no resemblance to any characterised protein or peptide family, highlighting the novelty of centipede venoms. This review highlights recent discoveries and summarises the current state of knowledge on the fascinating venom system of centipedes. MDPI 2015-02-25 /pmc/articles/PMC4379518/ /pubmed/25723324 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins7030679 Text en © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Undheim, Eivind A. B.
Fry, Bryan G.
King, Glenn F.
Centipede Venom: Recent Discoveries and Current State of Knowledge
title Centipede Venom: Recent Discoveries and Current State of Knowledge
title_full Centipede Venom: Recent Discoveries and Current State of Knowledge
title_fullStr Centipede Venom: Recent Discoveries and Current State of Knowledge
title_full_unstemmed Centipede Venom: Recent Discoveries and Current State of Knowledge
title_short Centipede Venom: Recent Discoveries and Current State of Knowledge
title_sort centipede venom: recent discoveries and current state of knowledge
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4379518/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25723324
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/toxins7030679
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