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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 04/08/2005 : 02:41:57
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I found this on The Thumb. Coincedently, Dr. Fry is an internet aquaintence of mine, although we've not coresponded in several years.
There is a tech article over there as well as this one:
quote:
Ultimately, this rush is not what drives Dr. Fry, who is 34. His goal is to decipher the evolution of snake venoms over the past 60 million years. Reconstructing their history will help lead to medical breakthroughs, Dr. Fry believes. For the past 35 years, scientists have been turning snake venoms into drugs. Just this February, Dr. Fry and his colleagues filed a patent for a molecule found in the venom of the inland taipan that may help treat congestive heart failure.
Understanding the evolution of snake venoms will speed up these discoveries immensely, Dr. Fry predicted. "You need a good road map to get your research going," he said.
Snakes produce venom in special glands on either side of their upper jaw. When they strike their prey, they squeeze the gland, causing the venom to spurt out. In some species, the venom simply pours into the wound. In other species, like cobras and inland taipans, the venom first flows into hollow fangs and then into the prey.
Most interesting. Someday a hot snake might save your life.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Plyss
Skeptic Friend
Netherlands
231 Posts |
 Posted - 04/09/2005 : 04:40:03 [Permalink]
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Cool stuff, if i would have had to guess i'd have said that venom proteins are most likely derived from digestive enzymes. Apparently for most of these toxins that's not the case though.
quote:
The snake toxins were shown to have arisen from recruitment events of genes from within the following protein families: acetylcholinesterase, ADAM (disintegrin/metalloproteinase), AVIT, complement C3, crotasin/ defensin, cystatin, endothelin, factor V, factor X, kallikrein, kunitz-type proteinase inhibitor, LYNX/SLUR, L-amino oxidase, lectin, natriuretic peptide, nerve growth factor, phospholipase A2, SPla/Ryanodine, vascular endothelial growth factor, and whey acidic protein/secretory leukoproteinase inhibitor
I'm looking forward to reading the entire article after the weekend. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/09/2005 : 05:38:39 [Permalink]
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Yeah, it's a topic that I haven't studied as much as I should have, beyond having absorbed some a few times (and that will concentrate the attention, marvelously!).
One of the great blithers of the ID crowd is that venom and it's injection apparatus could not have evolved seperatly, but of course, they did exactly that. As Brian describes, a bite from a garter snake is a messy business far beyond the series of tiny, pinprick wounds. Quite bloody, in fact, although not painful to a human. The same holds true for the Nerodia genera (US water snakes), among many others. These animals tend to chew, even with a defensive bite.
An excellent argument to lay on the ID woo-woos is the Helodermia. These, the gila monster and the closely related beaded lizard, are the only venomous lizards in the world, and they have no fangs. Rather, they must chew the venom in with their short, grooved teeth.
So, it would appear that venom came first in the form of a toxic saliva, followed in due course by the wonderfully efficent fang setup we see today.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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