{"database":"biostudies-literature","file_versions":[],"scores":null,"additional":{"submitter":["Herzig V"],"funding":["Ramaciotti Foundations","Indian Institute of Science","Department of Health | National Health and Medical Research Council","Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology","Australian Research Council"],"pagination":["24920-24928"],"full_dataset_link":["https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC7547274"],"repository":["biostudies-literature"],"omics_type":["Unknown"],"volume":["117(40)"],"pubmed_abstract":["Australian funnel-web spiders are infamous for causing human fatalities, which are induced by venom peptides known as δ-hexatoxins (δ-HXTXs). Humans and other primates did not feature in the prey or predator spectrum during evolution of these spiders, and consequently the primate lethality of δ-HXTXs remains enigmatic. Funnel-web envenomations are mostly inflicted by male spiders that wander from their burrow in search of females during the mating season, which suggests a role for δ-HXTXs in self-defense since male spiders rarely feed during this period. Although 35 species of Australian funnel-web spiders have been described, only nine δ-HXTXs from four species have been characterized, resulting in a lack of understanding of the ecological roles and molecular evolution of δ-HXTXs. Here, b"],"journal":["Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America"],"pubmed_title":["Australian funnel-web spiders evolved human-lethal δ-hexatoxins for defense against vertebrate predators."],"pmcid":["PMC7547274"],"funding_grant_id":["DP190100304","APP1072113","FT190100482","APP1136889","DST/INSPIRE/04/2017/000071","ECR grant","DBT-IISc Partnership Program","APP1162503","SR/FST/LS-II/2018/233"],"pubmed_authors":["Wilson DTR","Pineda SS","Herzig V","Sunagar K","Fry BG","Lewis RJ","Dutertre S","McFarland BS","Hodgson WC","King GF","Undheim EAB","Alewood PF","Bosmans F","Vetter I","Israel MR"],"additional_accession":[]},"is_claimable":false,"name":"Australian funnel-web spiders evolved human-lethal δ-hexatoxins for defense against vertebrate predators.","description":"Australian funnel-web spiders are infamous for causing human fatalities, which are induced by venom peptides known as δ-hexatoxins (δ-HXTXs). Humans and other primates did not feature in the prey or predator spectrum during evolution of these spiders, and consequently the primate lethality of δ-HXTXs remains enigmatic. Funnel-web envenomations are mostly inflicted by male spiders that wander from their burrow in search of females during the mating season, which suggests a role for δ-HXTXs in self-defense since male spiders rarely feed during this period. Although 35 species of Australian funnel-web spiders have been described, only nine δ-HXTXs from four species have been characterized, resulting in a lack of understanding of the ecological roles and molecular evolution of δ-HXTXs. Here, b","dates":{"release":"2020-01-01T00:00:00Z","publication":"2020 Oct","modification":"2026-05-01T17:26:11.765Z","creation":"2025-04-06T13:14:13.392Z"},"accession":"S-EPMC7547274","cross_references":{"pubmed":["32958636"],"doi":["10.1073/pnas.2004516117"]}}