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Racun kalajengking : buruk
untuk bug, baik untuk pestisida
Scorpion venom: Bad for bugs, good for pesticides
Date:
May 1, 2011
Source:
Michigan State University
Summary:
Fables have long cast scorpions as bad-natured killers
of hapless turtles that naively agree to ferry them across rivers. Scientists,
however, see them in a different light. Insect toxicologists and
neurobiologists have studied the effects of scorpion venom with the hopes of
finding new ways to protect plants from bugs. The results have revealed new
ways in which the venom works.
........................
Fables have long cast scorpions as bad-natured killers of
hapless turtles that naively agree to ferry them across rivers. Michigan State
University scientists, however, see them in a different light
Ke Dong, MSU
insect toxicologist and neurobiologist, studied the effects of scorpion venom
with the hopes of finding new ways to protect plants from bugs. The results,
which are published in the current issue of the Journal of Biological
Chemistry, have revealed new ways in which the venom works.
Past
research identified scorpion toxin's usefulness in the development of
insecticides. Its venom attacks various channels and receptors that control
their prey's nervous and muscular systems. One major target of scorpion toxins
is the voltage-gated sodium channel, a protein found in nerve and muscle cells
used for rapid electrical signaling.
"Interestingly,
some scorpion toxins selectively affect one type of sodium channels, but not
others," Dong said. "The goal of our scorpion toxin project is to
understand why certain scorpion toxins act on insect sodium channels, but not
their mammalian counterparts."
Dong and a
team of researchers were able to identify amino acid residues in insect sodium
channels that make the channels more vulnerable to the venom from the Israeli
desert scorpion. The team also discovered that an important sodium channel
voltage sensor can influence the potency of the scorpion toxin.
"Investigating
the venom's effect on the voltage-gated sodium channel could provide valuable
information for designing new insecticides that work by selectively targeting
insect sodium channels," Dong said.
Several
classes of insecticides act on sodium channels, but insects become resistant to
them over time. The researchers are studying how insects develop resistance and
what alternatives can be created to control resistant pests, Dong added.
Scientists
from Tel Aviv University and the University of California at Irvine contributed
to this study. Dong's research is funded in part by the National Science
Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Binational Agricultural
Research and Development Fund, and MSU AgBioResearch.
Story
Source:
The above
story is based on materials provided by Michigan State University. Note: Materials may be edited
for content and length.
Journal
Reference:
- W. Song, Y. Du, Z. Liu, N. Luo, M. Turkov, D. Gordon, M. Gurevitz, A. L. Goldin, K. Dong. Substitutions in the domain III voltage sensing module enhance the sensitivity of an insect sodium channel to a scorpion beta-toxin. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2011; DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M110.217000