ArticleToxins2018
A Dipteran's Novel Sucker Punch: Evolution of Arthropod Atypical Venom with a Neurotoxic Component in Robber Flies (Asilidae, Diptera).
Article in Toxins, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vector venom: venomics of Aedes albopictus reveals a large enzyme repertoire and novel cecropins with activity against E. coli.npj drug discovery · 2026Article
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- The green lacewing venom system and the complex mechanisms underlying its evolution.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Genome of venomous caterpillarProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- The genome sequence of the Dune Robberfly,Wellcome open research · 2025Article
- Article
- The genome sequence of the Golden-tabbed robberfly,Wellcome open research · 2024Article
- Allergic reactions associated with medically relevant arthropods.Annals of medicine · 2023Article
- Venom biotechnology: casting light on nature's deadliest weapons using synthetic biology.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2023Review
- Article
- Pick Your Poison: Molecular Evolution of Venom Proteins in Asilidae (Insecta: Diptera).Toxins · 2020Article
- Animal toxins - Nature's evolutionary-refined toolkit for basic research and drug discovery.Biochemical pharmacology · 2020Review
- Proteo-Transcriptomic Analysis Identifies Potential Novel Toxins Secreted by the Predatory, Prey-Piercing Ribbon WormMarine drugs · 2020Article
- An Economic Dilemma Between Molecular Weapon Systems May Explain an Arachno-atypical Venom in Wasp Spiders (Biomolecules · 2020Article
- Article
- Parallel Evolution of Complex Centipede Venoms Revealed by Comparative Proteotranscriptomic Analyses.Molecular biology and evolution · 2019Article
- Review
- Toxins from scratch? Diverse, multimodal gene origins in the predatory robber fly Dasypogon diadema indicate a dynamic venom evolution in dipteran insects.GigaScience · 2019Article
- Drug Discovery on Natural Products: From Ion Channels to nAChRs, from Nature to Libraries, from Analytics to Assays.SLAS discovery : advancing life sciences R & D · 2019Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Predatory robber flies (Diptera, Asilidae) have been suspected to be venomous due to their ability to overpower well-defended prey. However, details of their venom composition and toxin arsenal remained unknown. Here, we provide a detailed characterization of the venom system of robber flies through the application of comparative transcriptomics, proteomics and functional morphology. Our results reveal asilid venoms to be dominated by peptides and non-enzymatic proteins, and that the majority of components in the crude venom is represented by just ten toxin families, which we have named Asilidin1-10. Contrary to what might be expected for a liquid-feeding predator, the venoms of robber flies appear to be rich in novel peptides, rather than enzymes with a putative pre-digestive role. The novelty of these peptides suggests that the robber fly venom system evolved independently from hematophagous dipterans and other pancrustaceans. Indeed, six Asilidins match no other venom proteins, while three represent known examples of peptide scaffolds convergently recruited to a toxic function. Of these, members of Asilidin1 closely resemble cysteine inhibitor knot peptides (ICK), of which neurotoxic variants occur in cone snails, assassin bugs, scorpions and spiders. Synthesis of one of these putative ICKs, U-Asilidin₁-Mar1a, followed by toxicity assays against an ecologically relevant prey model revealed that one of these likely plays a role as a neurotoxin involved in the immobilization of prey. Our results are fundamental to address these insights further and to understand processes that drive venom evolution in dipterans as well as other arthropods.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.