Insect Collections as an Untapped Source of Bioactive Compounds-Fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae) and Cardiotonic Steroids as a Proof of Concept.

ABSTRACT: Natural history collections provide an invaluable basis for systematics, ecology, and conservation. Besides being an important source of DNA, museum specimens may also contain a plethora of natural products. Especially, dried insect collections represent a global repository with billions of inventoried vouchers. Due to their vast diversity, insects possess a great variety of defensive compounds, which they either produce autogenously or derive from the environment. Here, we present a case study on fireflies (Coleoptera: Lampyridae), which produce bufadienolides as a defense against predators. These toxins belong to the cardiotonic steroids, which are used for the treatment of cardiac diseases and specifically inhibit the animal enzyme Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase. Bufadienolides hav

SUBMITTER: Berger A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8396437 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature