Safe Pesticide from Deadly Scorpion Venom

Assam News · January 19, 2010

Scorpions deliver a powerful, paralyzing venom that immobilize animal prey on the spot. Now scientists are looking into a way to harness the power of Scorpio venom to control pests in an eco-friendly manner. Venom in Scorpions is actually a complex cocktail of poisonous toxins and some of those toxins affects only insects. That’s why a Tel Aviv University researcher is harnessing Scorpion venom to create a safe and ecologically sound pesticide.

Israeli yellow scorpion Professor Michael Gurevitz of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Plant Sciences has isolated the genetic sequences for important neurotoxins in the scorpion venom. In his study of the toxins and the evolution of their genes he recently published a paper in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution that demonstrates how computational analyses at the gene sequence level leads to better understanding of how to manipulate toxin activity. He’s also developed methods to produce and manipulate toxins to restrict their toxicity in certain insects or mammals.

Rather than isolating the venom constituents of the Israeli yellow scorpion, known to be among the world’s most poisonous scorpions, Professor Gurevitz developed genetic methods for producing and manipulating the desired toxins in bacteria. He then investigated how they act against insects and mammals, paving the way for potential use in the agriculture industry.

He went in this direction because attempts to insert a certain neurotoxin gene into a plant genome hoping for the plant to produce the toxin and kill infesting insects has failed. As a peptide, the toxin was metabolized in the insect guts, which evidently seems to require that it first be engineered to be able to penetrate into the insect blood stream to have its impact on the nervous system.

Professor Gurevitz says that some neurotoxins in the scorpion are highly active against some insects — leaf-eating moths, locusts, flies and beetles — but have no effect on beneficial insects like honeybees or on mammals like humans. He continues to pursue an effective mode of delivery for what could be a new insecticide.

Since scorpion toxins must be modified to be able to penetrate the blood stream of an infesting insect, it is important to study the toxins and the way they interact with the insect nervous system. Only then would it be possible to modify them in such a way as to reach their target tissues in insects, he says. This is the direction he is working on now.

The agriculture industry already uses mostly pyrethroids, which also penetrate into insects and attack their nervous systems, leading to paralysis and death. Their main drawback, however, is the lack of specificity and the danger these compounds pose to the environment, livestock and humans.

"Why not harness potent natural compounds that venomous animals developed during millions of years of evolution?" asks Professor Gurevitz. "I am developing the science so we can learn how to use them, and to learn how to produce agents to mimic their effect yet maintain specificity to certain kinds of insects."

Source: Tel Aviv University

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Category: Science | Tags: Agriculture, Insects, News, Pesticide, Science, Scorpion, Toxin, Venom

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One response to “Safe Pesticide from Deadly Scorpion Venom”. Post your own!

Thos003 says:

Feb 22, 2010 at 2:47 pm

Safe is a relative term. These bio-pesticides could be just as good or just as bad for you as man made alternatives. Or essentially equal to each other.

There is some truth to this hyped up news report http://blogpestcontrol.com/2010/02/scorpion-venom-extermination – Scorpion venom in pesticides. They have genetically altered plants to include scorpion toxins. Although the plant was unsuccessful because the toxin was ingested and not injected. This may prove the same in human, but there are more then one way for a product to be toxic. I don’t think I’d want scorpion venom in my eyes… Maybe we could make a mace out of it?