The venom in a tarantula's fangs packs a lethal punch when injected into its prey.
But the toxic brew could also serve as an insecticide against agricultural pests that consume the venom orally, a new study finds. A component of the spider venom is especially effective against the cotton bollworm, a pest that attacks crop plants.
Globally, insect agricultural pests reduce crop yields by 10 percent to 14 percent and damage 9 percent to 20 percent of stored food crops. Farmers primarily use chemical insecticides to control pests, but many insects are resistant to them.
In the last decade, researchers have been investigating "bioinsecticides," proteins derived from natural sources such as spider venom.
In the study, researchers milked venom from Australian tarantulas (Selenotypus plumipes), and isolated a small peptide — a molecular building block of cells — from the deadly substance. They fed the peptide to termites and cotton bollworms, and compared the effects with those of mealworms injected with the peptide.
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