How Aussie skinks outsmart deadly snake venom

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From:
The University of Queensland

A University of Queensland-led research has discovered Australian skinks have developed molecular armour to cease snake venom from shutting down their muscle tissues.

Professor Bryan Fry from UQ’s School of the Environment mentioned revealing precisely how skinks dodge dying may inform biomedical approaches to treating snakebite in individuals.

“What we saw in skinks was evolution at its most ingenious,” Professor Fry mentioned.

“Australian skinks have evolved tiny changes in a critical muscle receptor, called the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor.

“This receptor is normally the target of neurotoxins which bind to it and block nerve-muscle communication causing rapid paralysis and death.

“But in a stunning example of a natural counterpunch, we found that on 25 occasions skinks independently developed mutations at that binding site to block venom from attaching.

“It’s a testament to the massive evolutionary pressure than venomous snakes exerted after their arrival and spread across the Australian continent, when they would have feasted on the defenceless lizards of the day.

“Incredibly, the same mutations evolved in other animals like mongooses which feed on cobras.

“We confirmed with our functional testing that Australia’s Major Skink (Bellatorias frerei) has evolved exactly the same resistance mutation that gives the honey badger it’s famous resistance to cobra venom.

“To see this same type of resistance evolve in a lizard and a mammal is quite remarkable – evolution keeps hitting the same molecular bullseye.”

The muscle receptor mutations within the skinks included a mechanism so as to add sugar molecules to bodily block toxins and the substitution of a protein constructing block (amino acid arginine at place 187).

The laboratory work validating the mutations was carried out at UQ’s Adaptive Biotoxicology Laboratory by Dr Uthpala Chandrasekara who mentioned it was unbelievable to witness.

“We used synthetic peptides and receptor models to mimic what happens when venom enters an animal at the molecular level and the data was crystal clear, some of the modified receptors simply didn’t respond at all,” mentioned Dr Chandrasekara.

“It’s fascinating to think that one tiny change in a protein can mean the difference between life and death when facing a highly venomous predator.”

The findings may in the future inform the event of novel antivenoms or therapeutic brokers to counter neurotoxic venoms.

“Understanding how nature neutralises venom can offer clues for biomedical innovation,” Dr Chandrasekara mentioned.

“The more we learn about how venom resistance works in nature, the more tools we have for the design of novel antivenoms.”

The undertaking included collaborations with museums throughout Australia.

The research has been revealed in International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

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