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Indian researchers have produced the first comprehensive molecular and functional profile of the venom gland of Stegodyphus sarasinorum, the Indian cooperative or social spider.
The work was carried out at Sree Neelakanta Government Sanskrit College, Pattambi, Kerala.
The team combined transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and confocal Raman spectroscopy to inventory the gland.
More than 100 bioactive compounds with anti-cancer, antimicrobial and immune-related potential were identified.
Venom gland extracts killed cancer cells in assays, and the study detected U12 and U20 lycotoxins, peptides that disrupt bacterial and cancer cell membranes.
Transcriptomics reads the RNA to see which genes a tissue is actively expressing; proteomics identifies the proteins actually present; metabolomics catalogues the small molecules. Together they show what a gland can make, does make, and processes.
Simple Analogy: Reading the recipe, checking the dish, and tasting the ingredients.
Animal venoms are an established source of medicines — captopril for hypertension came from pit viper venom, and ziconotide, a painkiller, from cone snail venom.
Membrane-disrupting peptides such as lycotoxins are of interest precisely because bacteria find physical membrane damage harder to evolve around than conventional antibiotic targets.
Commercial use of Indian genetic resources such as this spider's venom is governed by India's access and benefit-sharing regime.
A non-destructive optical technique that identifies molecules by their vibrational signature, used here to characterise the gland in situ.
Governs access to India's biological resources and the fair, equitable sharing of benefits arising from their use. It gives effect to India's obligations under the UN Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol, and is the statute under which research on an Indian species and any commercial use of its genetic material is regulated.
Notified on 3 August 2023; it eased compliance for domestic entities in research, patent applications and transfer of research results, and decriminalised violations of the parent Act, replacing them with penalties.
GS Paper 3 > Science and Technology: Biotechnology; Environment: Biodiversity
General Awareness > Science and Current Events
The Indian cooperative or social spider, a permanently colonial species of the Indian subcontinent's semi-arid regions.
A class of spider venom peptide that kills by disrupting cell membranes; U12 and U20 lycotoxins were detected in this study.
Consistent difference in form between sexes of a species; in S. sarasinorum males are smaller and darker than females.