The assassin bug Pristhesancus plagipennis produces two distinct venoms in separate gland lumens

Andrew A. Walker (), Mark L. Mayhew, Jiayi Jin, Volker Herzig, Eivind A. B. Undheim, Andy Sombke, Bryan G. Fry, David J. Meritt and Glenn F. King ()
Additional contact information
Andrew A. Walker: The University of Queensland
Mark L. Mayhew: The University of Queensland
Jiayi Jin: The University of Queensland
Volker Herzig: The University of Queensland
Eivind A. B. Undheim: The University of Queensland
Andy Sombke: University of Greifswald
Bryan G. Fry: The University of Queensland
David J. Meritt: The University of Queensland
Glenn F. King: The University of Queensland

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The assassin bug venom system plays diverse roles in prey capture, defence and extra-oral digestion, but it is poorly characterised, partly due to its anatomical complexity. Here we demonstrate that this complexity results from numerous adaptations that enable assassin bugs to modulate the composition of their venom in a context-dependent manner. Gland reconstructions from multimodal imaging reveal three distinct venom gland lumens: the anterior main gland (AMG); posterior main gland (PMG); and accessory gland (AG). Transcriptomic and proteomic experiments demonstrate that the AMG and PMG produce and accumulate distinct sets of venom proteins and peptides. PMG venom, which can be elicited by electrostimulation, potently paralyses and kills prey insects. In contrast, AMG venom elicited by harassment does not paralyse prey insects, suggesting a defensive role. Our data suggest that assassin bugs produce offensive and defensive venoms in anatomically distinct glands, an evolutionary adaptation that, to our knowledge, has not been described for any other venomous animal.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03091-5 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-03091-5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03091-5

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().