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Bugs, drugs and electric venom: is this the most deadly library in the world?
For people in north Queensland, a bright green caterpillar’s sting ‘feels like the seven rings of hell’. But scientists in Brisbane hope its toxin can be used to help, not harm
King says it would have been impossible to study this amount of venom just 20 years ago but technological advances have enabled researchers to identify peptides from minuscule volumes. In the case of the asp caterpillar, a moth larva which looks like a toupee, Walker found evidence that it may have acquired its toxic capabilities via gene transfer with bacteria many millions of years ago. King notes that pain from jellyfish stings can be alleviated by heat and Walker’s work has shown that peptides in asp caterpillar venom break down at higher temperatures.
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