The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.
REVIEW article
Front. Arachn. Sci.
Sec. Arachnid Toxinology and Biochemistry
Volume 3 - 2024 |
doi: 10.3389/frchs.2024.1445500
A roadmap to the enzymes from spider venom: biochemical ecology, molecular diversity, and value for the bioeconomy
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Bioresources, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Fraunhofer Society (FHG), Giessen, Germany
- 2 University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany
Spiders are ancient and highly successful predators, which use venom for both predation and defense. Their venoms are complex mixtures of potent biological molecules, emerging as a prolific source of biomolecular innovation in agriculture, biomedicine, and bioeconomy. While small cysteine-rich neurotoxins are typically considered the main components of spider venoms, recent research has shown that spider venoms also contain many high-molecular-weight proteins, especially enzymes. To date, very little is known about the diversity, biochemistry and ecology of these components. Here, we provide the first systematic overview of spider venom enzymes, describing all known examples in terms of their properties and functions in the spider venom system. We argue that the sheer diversity of these neglected spider venom compounds offers significant translational potential and holds great potential for the bioeconomy, reflecting a wide range of technical applications such as industrial production, food processing, and waste management.
Keywords: Araneae, Bio catalysis, Biodiscovery, Venomics, Industrial application, Toxinology
Received: 07 Jun 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.
Copyright: © 2024 Dresler, Avella, Damm, Dersch, Krämer, Vilcinskas and Lüddecke. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Tim Lüddecke, Department of Bioresources, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Fraunhofer Society (FHG), Giessen, Germany
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.