Citation

King GF, Hardy MC. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 2013; 58: 475-496.

Affiliation

Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, Australia; email: glenn.king@imb.uq.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Annual Reviews)

DOI

10.1146/annurev-ento-120811-153650

PMID

23020618

Abstract

Spider venoms are an incredibly rich source of disulfide-rich insecticidal peptides that have been tuned over millions of years to target a wide range of receptors and ion channels in the insect nervous system. These peptides can act individually, or as part of larger toxin cabals, to rapidly immobilize envenomated prey owing to their debilitating effects on nervous system function. Most of these peptides contain a unique arrangement of disulfide bonds that provides them with extreme resistance to proteases. As a result, these peptides are highly stable in the insect gut and hemolymph and many of them are orally active. Thus, spider-venom peptides can be used as stand-alone bioinsecticides, or transgenes encoding these peptides can be used to engineer insect-resistant crops or enhanced entomopathogens. We critically review the potential of spider-venom peptides to control insect pests and highlight their advantages and disadvantages compared with conventional chemical insecticides. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Entomology Volume 58 is December 03, 2013. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/catalog/pubdates.aspx for revised estimates.

Language: en