Plants and animals are often adorned with potentially conspicuous colours (eg red, yellow,
orange, blue, purple). These include the dazzling colours of fruits and flowers, the brilliant …

Toxin evolution in animals is one of the most fascinating and complex subjects of scientific
inquiry today. Gaining an understanding of toxins poses a multifaceted challenge given the …

The carnivorous mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus uses an unknown toxin to rapidly paralyze
and kill nematode prey upon contact. We report that small lollipop-shaped structures …

Reef stonefish (Synanceia verrucosa) is one of the most venomous fishes, but its biomedical
study has been restricted to molecular cloning and purification of its toxins, instead of high …

Venoms are best known for their ability to incapacitate prey. In predatory groups, venom
potency is predicted to reflect ecological and evolutionary drivers relating to diet. While …

Venoms have evolved> 100 times in all major animal groups, and their components, known
as toxins, have been fine-tuned over millions of years into highly effective biochemical …

Difficult drug targets are becoming the normal course of business in drug discovery,
sometimes due to large interacting surfaces or only small differences in selectivity regions …

Envenomations induced by animal bites and stings constitute a significant public health
burden. Even though a standardized protocol does not exist, parenterally administered …

Venomous animals are a striking example of the convergent evolution of a complex trait.
These animals have independently evolved an apparatus that synthesizes, stores, and …

Fishes represent the most diverse group of vertebrates, having inhabited the Earth for
approximately 480 million years during which they evolved many specialised adaptations …