Since the discovery of double-stranded RNA mediated gene-specific silencing in the nematode

PCNA levels examined in these studies were found to be lower in the sinigrin-treated group than in the positive control groups, suggesting that cell division also, is a target for sinigrin-dependent attenuation. As excellent predators, spiders kill or paralyze their prey by using their venoms, which are secreted from their venom glands. Several families of bioactive substances have been found from spider venoms including low-molecular-weight compounds, peptides, and proteins. These venom components possess functions including induction of paralysis, activation or inhibition of ion channels and receptors, and microorganism-killing. There is extreme chemical diversity in spider venoms, which are a rich resource from which to prospect bioactive compounds. High levels of chemical diversity make spider venoms attractive subjects for chemical prospecting. More than 500 bioactive peptides from venoms of about 60 spider species with molecular weight of less than 10 kDa are characterized and divided into 20 families. Most of these spider peptides contain six or eight cysteine Gomisin-D residues to form three to four disulfide bridges but they have different disulfide bond motifs. Most of these disulfide-containing peptides exhibit neurotoxic properties. B. albopilosum is a species of tarantula known commonly as the Honduran curlyhair or simply Curlyhair tarantula. It is distributed in Central America, from Honduras to Costa Rica. They are terrestrial, opportunistic burrowing spiders. B. albopilosum is frequently kept and bred as a pet in captivity. Although B. albopilosum is one of the commonest spiders in Central America, little work has been done to study compounds in its venoms. A novel neurotoxin is identified from the venom of B. albopilosum in this study. The compositions of spider venom components are very complex. They are mixtures of Etidronate biologically active compounds with different chemical natures. More than a hundred different components can be found in the same venom. These venom components work synergistically and provide efficiency of action of the mixture. Venom composition is highly species-specific and depends on many factors including sex, nutrition, natural habitat, climate, etc.. Most spider venoms contain multiple disulfide-containing peptide neurotoxins, which are predominant components of venoms. However, there was no information on the components in the venom that induced these effects in the report. In the present study, phase contrast photomicrographs showed that brachyin did not induce necrosis of toxicity damage and direct lysis in tumor cell lines. A recent study indicated that lycosin-I, a peptide from the spider Lycosa singoriensis displays both a strong ability to inhibit cancer cell growth in vitro and could suppress tumor growth in vivo through mitochondrial death pathways to sensitize cancer cells for apoptosis, as well as up-regulating p27 to inhibit cell proliferation. PST, a natural molecule isolated from the lily spider Pancratium littorale, was shown to have apoptotic effects specifically upon tumor cells, and not upon their homologous nontumoral lines by inducing permeabilization of mitochondria and activation of caspases. It is possible that brachyin may inhibit cancer cell growth in a similar way to the peptides listed above. Brachyin may be a good candidate in the development of anticancer therapies. Further work is necessary to study the mechanisms of the inhibition of cell proliferation. RNA interference is a promising tool for studying functional genomics in eukaryotes and insects in particular. Anti-sense RNA strand transcription has been used for over three decades to inhibit gene activity. The efficacy of antisense silencing depends on hybridization between the injected RNA and an endogenous messenger.

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