Copyright
©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Biol Chem. May 26, 2015; 6(2): 28-33
Published online May 26, 2015. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v6.i2.28
Published online May 26, 2015. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v6.i2.28
Animal venom studies: Current benefits and future developments
Yuri N Utkin, Laboratory of Molecular Toxinology, Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Moscow 117997, Russia
Author contributions: Utkin YN solely contributed to this paper.
Supported by The research funding from Russian Foundation for Basic Research, No. 15-04-01843.
Conflict-of-interest: The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Yuri N Utkin, Professor, Head, Laboratory of Molecular Toxinology, Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16/10, Moscow 117997, Russia. utkin@mx.ibch.ru
Telephone: +7-495-3366522 Fax: +7-495-3366522
Received: January 29, 2015
Peer-review started: January 31, 2015
First decision: March 6, 2015
Revised: March 23, 2015
Accepted: April 8, 2015
Article in press: April 9, 2015
Published online: May 26, 2015
Peer-review started: January 31, 2015
First decision: March 6, 2015
Revised: March 23, 2015
Accepted: April 8, 2015
Article in press: April 9, 2015
Published online: May 26, 2015
Core Tip
Core tip: Animal venoms are complex mixtures mostly of peptides and proteins. Recent studies have indicated that the single venom may contain up to several hundred different components producing diverse physiological effects. The knowledge of venom composition as well as structure and properties of its components on the one hand may give the clue for better treatment of bites and stings on the other hand it may lead to the discovery of new medicines. Recent developments in research methods gave a great impulse to animal venom studies, which may result in the entry of new drugs to the market.