Nevada researchers have recently taken a step closer to determining the secret to resisting the black widow spider's venom.
According to a Newsweek report, by examining the impacts of the venom on lizard species that are the natural predators of the spider, the researchers discovered that they could resist the deadly defenses of the spider.
Chris Feldman, who led this Nevada study, said when he was a wee graduate student, he read that alligator lizards could eat black widows.
However, he added, no one had bothered to investigate whether these creatures might be resistant to the toxin.
Black Widow Spiders
Black widow spiders, characterized by their shiny black bodies and red hourglass markings, are among the most poisonous spiders in North America. Nonetheless, their bite is unusually deadly to humans.
Feldman explained that an individual spider does not contain adequate venom to kill a human. Black widow spiders opt to hide from people; therefore, bites are rare in the United States.
Very small children and the elderly can likely develop more severe illnesses necessitating medical attention, although human deaths are quite unusual.
Moreover, a bite can lead to severe muscle pain and cramping, mild paralysis of the diaphragm, and nausea, making breathing difficult.
Feldman described the black widow spider's venom as a somewhat sophisticated and complicated mixture of proteins that target motor neurons and muscle cells.
Black Widow Spider Venom in Lizards
The study lead also explained that the venom causes muscles to twitch quickly "until they eventually lock up and seize," which is very painful. And then, the venom causes muscle necrosis, where the muscles die, which is quite painful.
Whereas this would be a painful nuisance to people, the impacts might be quite dramatic to a tiny animal. In this study published in Royal Society Open Science, Feldman and his team at the University of Nevada, Reno, tested how the toxin of the black widow affected two lizard species to prey on the spiders. These include the alligator lizard and the western fence lizard.
The research team injected the lizards with the fatal venom and set them on a miniature race course to gauge their physical performance.
The animals were tested as well for muscle damage and immune activity. Such results were compared with those of a possibly vulnerable lizard species, also known as prey of widows.
Biochemical Mechanisms Potentially at Play
While it remains unknown, the exact mechanism by which the alligator lizards resist the venom of the black widow, other predator-prey interactions can give researchers an idea as to what biochemical mechanisms might be at play, a similar Search Vatika report said.
Feldman explained other animals that resist venoms frequently have venom-scavenging proteins in their blood that bind to venom and disable such toxins.
Since the alligator lizard exhibited no muscle tissue damage or even an elevated immune response, the team suspects that the toxin is hindered or bound up before it can do its dirty work.
When it comes to how this could have evolved, such lizards are eating all sorts of possibly harmful arthropod prey, from stinging ants and wasps to different spider types and even scorpions.
Related information about black widows is shown in National Geographic's YouTube video below:
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