Scientists have discovered the gene that makes Australian skinks immune to deadly snake venom – and it could offer exciting new possibilities for treating snakebite in humans.
A new study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences found that Australian skinks are able to dodge death by mutating a key muscle receptor, which makes them resistant to neurotoxins. This feat of adaptation shows that Australian skinks have evolved the same venom resistance mutation as the honey badger, which possesses a remarkable resistance to snake venom.
- The animals that can tackle and eat the world's most venomous snakes
- At 10 metres long this snake is not only the world's longest and heaviest, but one of the deadliest too, capable of swallowing a human whole
This offers promising opportunities for creating new antivenoms and therapies in human medicine.
"What we saw in skinks was evolution at its most ingenious," says Professor Bryan Fry from the University of Queensland’s School of the Environment.
"Australian skinks have evolved tiny changes in a critical muscle receptor, called the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. This receptor is normally the target of neurotoxins which bind to it and block nerve-muscle communication causing rapid paralysis and death.
But in a stunning example of a natural counterpunch, we found that on 25 occasions skinks independently developed mutations at that binding site to block venom from attaching.”
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Top image: Australia’s Major Skink (Bellatorias frerei) has evolved the same venom resistance mutation as the honey badger (Mellivora capensis), which is found across Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Credit: Scott Eipper