{"id":72110,"date":"2020-09-21T22:00:06","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T19:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/why-male-funnel-web-spiders-are-so-dangerous\/"},"modified":"2020-09-21T22:00:06","modified_gmt":"2020-09-21T19:00:06","slug":"why-male-funnel-web-spiders-are-so-dangerous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/why-male-funnel-web-spiders-are-so-dangerous\/","title":{"rendered":"#Why male funnel web spiders are so dangerous"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Why male funnel web spiders are so dangerous<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"Toxic
\n Research team member Dr David Wilson milking venom samples from a funnel web spider. Credit: Paul Dymond
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A team of University of Queensland researchers has revealed why male funnel web spiders develop much deadlier venom than their female counterparts.<\/p>\n


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Led by UQ’s Associate Professor Bryan Fry, the team has spent 20 years investigating delta-hexatoxins, the venom peptides that make funnel web spider venom so dangerous.<\/p>\n

“Australian funnel-web spiders are infamous for causing human fatalities with this particular range of toxins,” Dr. Fry said.<\/p>\n

“Delta-hexatoxins exert fatal neurotoxic effects in humans by keeping nerves turned on, so that they keep firing over and over again.<\/p>\n

“It has puzzled scientists why these toxins are so deadly to humans, when they and other primates, haven’t featured as either prey or predator during the spider’s evolution.<\/p>\n

“And we couldn’t understand why most human deaths were being caused by male funnel web spiders, which seemingly had much deadlier venom than females.”<\/p>\n

Using molecular analysis of the venom, Dr. Fry and the team decided to take a closer look.<\/p>\n

Although 35 species of funnel-web spiders had previously been described, only eight delta-hexatoxins from five species had been analyzed.<\/p>\n

Dr. Fry and his team almost trip<\/a>led the data\u2014profiling 22 novel delta-hexatoxins from the venom of 10 funnel-web species.<\/p>\n

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\n Close up and terrifying: the deadly funnel web spider. Credit: Dr David Wilson
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“Having much more data helped paint a much clearer picture, revealing an incredibly interesting evolutionary story\u2014one that had been hypothesized, but we’ve now proven,” he said.<\/p>\n

“These toxins had originally evolved to kill insects such as cockroaches and flies.<\/p>\n

“But, when male funnel web spiders become sexually mature, they leave the safety of their burrow and wander quite considerable distances in search of females.<\/p>\n

“This can be quite treacherous, and these male funnel web spiders started to encounter dangerous vertebrate predators, such as the dunnart, a small nocturnal mouse-like marsupial.<\/p>\n

“The data shows that natural selection put the necessary pressure on to switch an insect-specific venom into a vertebrate-specific defensive venom.<\/p>\n

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\"Toxic
\n UQ’s Associate Professor Bryan Fry retrieving still-live funnel web spiders from his suburban pool in not-particularly-scientific attire. Credit: Associate Professor Bryan Fry
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“And, unluckily for us, we’re a vertebrate species which copped it in the process.”<\/p>\n

With a stronger evolutionary understanding of delta-hexatoxins, Dr. Fry and his team are now endeavoring to put this new knowledge to use.<\/p>\n

“We’re hoping this research will give us a better understanding of exactly what funnel web spider venom does to the human body,” he said.<\/p>\n

“And\u2014medically speaking\u2014this could be critical for the design of evidence-based treatment strategies for bite victims.<\/p>\n

“We’re also hoping it will help researchers discover novel insecticides, finding better sources for insect-specific toxins.<\/p>\n

“They’re dangerous as hell, but male funnel web spiders offer us some real opportunities.”<\/p>\n\n

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‘Record’ anti-venom dose saves boy from deadly Australian spider\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n More information:<\/strong>
\n Volker Herzig el al., “Australian funnel-web spiders evolved human-lethal \u03b4-hexatoxins for defense against vertebrate predators,” PNAS<\/i> (2020). www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.2004516117<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
\n Provided by
\n University of Queensland
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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Toxic masculinity: Why male funnel web spiders are so dangerous (2020, September 21)
\n retrieved 21 September 2020
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news<\/a>\/2020-09-toxic-masculinity-male-funnel-web.html<\/p>\n

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