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God's sense of humor (The duckbeaver)
Topic Started: Feb 26 2009, 07:04 PM (92 Views)
Gibson
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SYDNEY: With a duck-like bill and a habit of laying eggs, the platypus is a strange mammal. Australian researchers have now uncovered the evolutionary basis of one of its most unusual features: its venom.

Both male and female platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) are born with hind leg spurs, but only males produce a cocktail of venom there, which helps them compete with other males for mates and defend themselves against predators. The venom is powerful enough to kill dogs and though it is not fatal to humans, it can cause pain so intense that the victim is debilitated for weeks.

"Extreme pain"

"The platypus is one of the few venomous mammals. It derives its venom from hind legs spurs, only produced during the breeding season in spring," said Camilla Whittington of the University of Sydney's Faculty of Veterinary Science. "In humans, platypus envenomation causes extreme pain and swelling. As it is very difficult to extract a venom sample, our knowledge has been incomplete and there is no antivenin available."

To further probe the unusual adaptation, Whittington and other researchers involved in the platypus genome project have sequenced its venom genes. By comparison with the genes of other venomous species, such as snakes, the team have discovered that they have evolved by duplication from genes that were once involved in the immune system.

As they revealed at the Annual Conference of the Genetics Society of Australasia held at the University of Sydney last week, the venom of the platypus is partly composed of 'defensin-like' proteins.

Defensin proteins are produced by the immune system of the platypus, and are also produced as an antibiotic in the milk of some marsupials to help bolster immunity of young koalas, wallabies and other species.

The molecular basis of pain

Understanding the basis of platypus venom might help us to understand more about the pain response in humans and could lead to new painkillers and antivenin, commented physiologist Jamie Vandenberg of the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

"Envenomation is very painful. Thus if we could identify which of the toxins in the venom are causing the pain and then identify the protein molecules in the body that the toxin is stimulating, that will give us insights into the molecular basis of pain sensation," he said

"By extension of that once you know the proteins involved in pain sensation, you have the opportunity to start to design new drugs that will interfere with those molecules and prevent them transmitting pain signals," added Vandenberg.

The platypus venom study has come out of efforts to sequence the entire genome of the species. As the platypus is a monotreme – a primitive group that branched off early on in the mammalian tree of life – new insights on its genetic make-up could help us better understand mammalian evolution.

Earlier this year, researchers published the genome of the South American opossum (Monodelphis domestica) the first marsupial to be sequenced. Other marsupial genome projects such as the Tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii), representing the kangaroo family, are also underway.
Edited by Gibson, Feb 26 2009, 07:07 PM.
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YesterdaysDreams
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awwh the platy pussies
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Gibson
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I want one :)
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