Work

Bioactivity profiling of spider venoms reveals predominant hyaluronidase activities

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Spider venoms are primarily composed of small neurotoxic peptides. However, recent studies suggested a hitherto overlooked diversity of spider venom enzymes, although their functional space still remains largely unexplored. We tested 10 spider venoms for enzymatic activities covering six enzyme classes and found that all tested enzymatic activities can be detected in at least some of the venoms and that hyaluronidases exhibit particularly high enzymatic activities. With this, our study provides functional evidence for the proposed biological significance of enzymes in spider venoms, but more detailed investigations are required. • Comparative bioactivity profiling identifies enzymatic activities in nine tarantulas and one sparassid spider venoms. • Six enzymatic activities in spider venoms detected. • High hyaluronidase activity across various theraphosid spider venoms. • Findings support the hypothesized biological roles potentially aiding in prey digestion and the efficacy of envenomation.

Source: Toxicon

DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2025.108667

Authors: Josephine Dresler, Volker Herzig, Lennart Schulte, Tim Lüddecke

Institutions: LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, University of the Sunshine Coast, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

Language: English

Topic: Venomous Animal Envenomation and Studies

Subfield: Genetics

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,340

Funder: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft