Biofactories Applied to Future Antivenom Production

Posted by
  Image Credit: By Ssiltane - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52242648 Biofactories Applied to Future Antivenom Production Abstract Background: Accidents caused by the  Loxosceles laeta  spider constitute a health problem in South America. Envenomation can lead to severe systemic manifestations, eventually compromising the patient’s life. Most regional health authorities consider antivenom administration the basis of effective treatment in the most serious cases. The availability of spider venom is the primary bottleneck for antivenom production. Herein, we present a novel biotechnological approach, based on the expression of recombinant versions of the most relevant toxin in loxoscelism, sphingomyelinase D (SphD), in insect larvae ( Spodoptera frugiperda ).  Methods: We produced two versions of SphD: one conserving its biological activities (wtSphD) and a second alternative that was designed to be genetically detoxified (dSphD...

Spider and harvestmen biodiversity in New Zealand horticultural ecosystems

Posted by

 


Spider and harvestmen biodiversity in New Zealand horticultural ecosystems


ABSTRACT

Spiders contribute to pest suppression in agroecosystems by direct and non-direct consumption. They provide an ecosystem service which provides economic gains to horticultural growing systems, such as apples, wine grapes, and kiwifruit. Very few studies on spider biodiversity in cropping systems have been completed in New Zealand, and no studies have been published for New Zealand orchard systems. In this study, spiders and harvestmen were sampled from vineyards, apple orchards, and kiwifruit orchards in three New Zealand locations, Waipara, Motueka, and Kerikeri. Spiders were sampled using pitfall traps, sweep netting, active day sampling, and active night sampling. A total of 1359 spiders and 87 Opiliones were caught in this study, from 17 families and 31 species. Sixteen of the 31 (51.6%) species found were introduced, 9 (29%) endemic to New Zealand, two species (6.4%) native to New Zealand, and four (12.9%) unknown. There were five dominant spider families caught (Araneidae, Lycosidae, Theridiidae, Linyphiidae, and Desidae), and of the adults, there were five dominant species: Anoteropsis hilaris, Tenuiphantes tenuis, Cryptachaea veruculata, Cryptachaea blattea, and Steatoda capensis. This study provides the first important step in describing the spider families and species found in three economically important New Zealand horticultural systems.

  1. Nicola Sullivan, Amanda Black, Joanna Sharp, Alby Marsh, Ruth Butler & Cor Vink (2023) Spider and harvestmen biodiversity in New Zealand horticultural ecosystems, New Zealand Journal of Zoology, DOI: 10.1080/03014223.2023.2274827