(MEDICAL NEWS) – Australian bull ants have evolved a venom molecule perfectly tuned to target one of their predators – the echidna – that also could have implications for people with long-term pain, University of Queensland researchers say.
Dr Sam Robinson and David Eagles from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience found a bull ant venom component that exploits a pain pathway in mammals, which they believe evolved to stop echidnas attacking the ant’s nests.
Whilst searching databases for similar amino-acid sequences, Dr Robinson found that the molecule matched the sequence of mammalian hormones related to Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), and of these, was most closely related to that of the echidna.