Spider Venoms

This volume provides an overview of the biochemical characterization, structure-function studies, proteomics, bioinformatics, molecular biology, transcriptomics and genomics of various spider species. The book also covers our current knowledge of venom components, toxins and their modes of action. The first section of Spider Venom includes contributions regarding the wide diversity of spider venom components and depicts some of their biological effects (antimicrobial, ion channel modulators, insecticides, this includes peptide and non-peptide toxins), and emphasizes spiders of public health importance. The second section covers transcriptomes, proteomes (and peptidomics), bioinformatics and molecular dynamics. The last section describes antimicrobial, insecticidal toxins, envenomation and the medical potential of spider venoms.

Spider venoms are a great and extensive source of bioactive compounds, and as such form a boundless and bountiful area awaiting discovery. It is by virtue of dedicated scientists that new toxins are discovered and that new insights arise, leading the way towards the investigation of their pharmacological effects, and hopefully, as a consequence, arriving at the discovery of venom components as new drug candidates.

Prof. P. Gopalakrishnakone, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., F.A.M.S., D.Sc., is presently professor of anatomy and chairman of the Venom and Toxin Research Programme at Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. He is also a consultant to the Defence Science Organization in Singapore and adjunct senior research scientist at the Defence Medical Research Institute. Prof. Gopalakrishnakone is an honorary principal fellow at the Australian Venom Research Unit, University of Melbourne, Australia. His research studies include structure function studies, toxin detection, biosensors, antitoxins and neutralization factors, toxicogenomics and expression studies, antimicrobial peptides from venoms and toxins, and PLA2 inhibitors as potential drug candidates for inflammatory diseases. The techniques he employs include quantum dots to toxinology, computational biology, microarrays, and protein chips. Prof. Gopalakrishnakone has more than 160 international publications, four books, about 350 conference presentations, and 10 patent applications. He has been an active member of the International Society on Toxinology (IST) for 30 years and was president from 2008 to 2012. He is also the founder president of its Asia Pacific Section, a council member, as well as an editorial board member of Toxicon, the society’s official journal. His research awards include the Outstanding University Researcher Award from the National University of Singapore (1998); Ministerial Citation, NSTB Year 2000 Award in Singapore; and the Research Excellence Award from the Faculty of Medicine at NUS (2003). His awards in teaching include Faculty Teaching Excellence Award 2003/4 and NUS Teaching Excellence Award 2003/4. Prof. Gopalakrishnakone also received the Annual Teaching Excellence Award in 2010 at both university and faculty levels.

Dr. Gerardo A. Corzo was born in Chiapas, Mexico, and he studied biochemical engineering at the Metropolitan University campus Iztapalapa (Mexico, 1986), obtained a master’s degree at the Institute of Biomedical Research-UNAM (Mexico, 1993), and achieved a Ph.D. at Oklahoma State University (USA, 1997). After three years of postdoctoral training at the Suntory Institute for Bioorganic Research (Osaka, Japan), he became research associate at the same institute where he focused on the peptide chemistry of arachnid venoms. In 2004, he moved to the Institute of Biotechnology-UNAM as a full professor. He has maintained a long interest in the discovery of natural products from arthropods, and in the recombinant expression of cysteine-rich venom peptides and enzymes for therapeutic uses. Dr. Corzo has published 78 peer-review articles and 8 patents. He currently sustains a strong collaboration with Mexican pharmaceutical industries to which he had transferred the intellectual property of two patents.

Maria Elena de Lima was born in Sacramento, state of Minas Gerais (MG), Brazil. She is a full professor of biochemistry at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, UFMG (MG, Brazil). She is graduated in biological sciences by Universidade Federal de Uberlândia (MG, Brazil), and holds a master’s in biochemichemistry by Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais and a Ph.D. in neuroscience by Aix Marseille University, Marseilles, France. She has been working on venoms and toxins since her master thesis, specially focused on  those from arthropods, including spiders, scorpions, among others. Her main focus is the biochemical and pharmacological studies of the venoms and their toxins, selecting those with therapeutic potential. She has been advisor of more than 50 master and doctoral students. At  Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais she was adjoint-dean of research, president of the Ethical Committee for Investigation, involving Human Being, the head of the Biochemical and Immunology Department and the coordinator of the Post Graduation Program of Biochemistry and Immunology. At present, she is a member of the university council of UFMG. She has more than 80 published papers in indexed international journals, five filled patents and was editor-in-chief of the book Animal Toxins: State of the Art. Perspectives in Health and Biotechnology published by UFMG’s editor. She published about 10 book chapters, besides being editor of three scientific Journals. She has received awards for her scientific work, among them the “Santos Dumong Medal” attributed by the governor of Minas Gerais state. She is a member of the Brazilian Society of Toxinology, the Brazilian Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SBBq) and the International Society on Toxinology (IST). She was the president of the Brazilian Society of Toxinology for four years, having coordinated two Congress of Toxinology, of which one  of them was the World Congress of the IST held at Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil in 2009. She appreciates very much the scientific interaction with many colleagues in the world.

Dr. Elia Diego-García is a molecular biologist and toxinologist, specializing in the study of transcripts and genes and the potential of toxins as ion channel modulators. She graduated as a biologist with honors from the Faculty of Biology, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH), Mexico. She began her scientific career in plant tissue culture and genetic transformation, and obtained her master’s in biochemistry in 1998 from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Dr. Diego-García started a Ph.D. under the professional guidance of professor emeritus Dr. Lourival D. Possani at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Bioprocesses, Biotechnology Institute, UNAM. Her research was mainly focused on the characterization of arachnid venom compounds and the genomic organization of toxin genes. She received her Ph.D. in biomedical sciences in 2005. She continued her research projects at UNAM as a postdoctoral research associate (2005–2007) and was awarded the “Scholarships Programme for Young Professors and Researcher from Latin America Universities” grant by the Coimbra Group in 2006. In 2007, Dr. Diego-García entered as a postdoctoral fellow into the internationally acknowledged research group of professor Dr. Jan Tytgat at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), Belgium. She held this position until 2014 and was involved in various projects using venom glands and venoms to search for new compounds, combining transcriptomic, proteomic and genomic analysis from spiders and other animal species.