Opossums are a very common sight to see here in North America. When you think of you think of opossums you may think of the nocturnal animal that plays dead as a defense mechanism. This is the instinctual response to predators, and it actually works pretty well as a defense against predators. Unfortunately for opossums the playing dead defense does not work well against cars. Although for predators, the playing dead defense does often work, sometimes it does not, and different defense measures are taken.
A common problem opossums run into are snakes, and more specifically venomous snakes. Venomous snakes will bite opossums, and seem to not have much of an effect on the animal. Scientists noticed in the 1940’s that opossums in Virginia have an immunity to the venomous snake bites, specifically those of the Diamondback Snake. In researching the opossums ability of immunity to the venomous bite, a peptide in the blood of opossums was found to hold the key to the immunity. The protein is able to neutralize the venom, and is called the Lethal Toxin Neutralizing Factor, or LTNF for short.
Claire Komives, a professor of chemical engineering at San Jose State University in California believes that the protein can be mass produced by scientists in the lab at an inexpensive rate, and be used as a universal antidote for snakebites across the world. Current treatments for snakebites are expensive because the cure needs to be specifically tailored to each species of snake. Snakebites are a bit of a problem in the developing world. The World Health Organization estimates that over 94,000 annual deaths occur from venomous snake bites. A cheaper and more universal cure could be the key to significantly lowering this number.
This National Geographic article discusses an experiment that has already been done with the protein. This experiment was done on lab rats. The mice were given venom from a diamondback rattlesnake that was incubated in the protein, and the venom had no effect on the mice. The mice also were given venom from India’s Russel Viper that was incubated in the protein, and the venom also had no effect on the mice. This was particularly interesting because the protein gave immunity to a venom that is not native to North America, where the opossum lives. The fact that the protein can neutralize a venom that it has never encountered hints at the idea that this could be a universal treatment for venomous bites.
Although I think it's a great idea. Im sure it will take quite some time to market this alternative treatment. Because snakes bites are not as common this treatment unfortunately may also be expensive.
ReplyDelete-fredjah Desmezeaux
I think this idea is genius. I think that testing the protein on a different type of venom then what the opossum usually encounters was a good way to see if the protein was only adapted to venoms hat the opossum could potentially be exposed too. Since the rat was not affected with the foreign venom when presenting the protein, I believe this is a step in the right direction to maybe finding a more universal cure for snake venom. However, I do think that much more research is needed to be done to conclude this information. Different types of snakes have different strengths of venom ranging from mild to extreme. Would this protein be able to deflect an extreme venom as easily as it could a mild venom? I believe these are questions that need to be studied more.
ReplyDelete- Sophie DeRepentigny
I was pretty surprised to learn about this topic. I didn't realize how many people have died as a result of snake venom. I didn't think it really happened that often. I found it really interesting how the mice were able to show immunity to snake venom that wasn't even from North America. A lot of progress was made but will research continue to be done. Is this research for a particular type of venom? I don't know much about snake venom but I assume that different ones can have different effects which will require a lot more tests to be done.
ReplyDelete-Matt Cayer
The interesting thing about this protein is that it has worked on both venoms native to North America, as well as venoms on other continents. Different venoms do have different effects but the protein has been shown to neutralize different venoms. More research will need to be done to see how many venoms the protein will be able to neutralize, but the future of it looks promising.
DeletePosted by John Mariano
I think opossums are a smarter organisms than one may think. Reading about this post was surprising to me, yet informing. In the United States, opossums play a huge role in pest control. It might not be well as known, however, opossums eat ticks. The presence of possums are a huge determiner of tick populations. They help keep tick populations numbers under control. This helps prevention and protects against the spread of disease for a lot of other species. Their predation helps improve the health of an ecosystem.
ReplyDelete-Elise Babula
This is an interesting topic to me because I actually watch a YouTuber who was bit by a king cobra and lost one of his fingers due to the venom. It would be incredible if there could actually be a cure for deadly venom because there are many out there who choose to breed and rescue certain breeds of venomous snakes. The work they do is incredibly important for conservation. This could greatly reduce the risk for them getting bit and it potentially being fatal.
ReplyDeleteComment was posted by Brianna Luciani
DeleteThis is incredible! Not only because they developed an immunity to venom, but an immunity particularly to the diamondback snake. They are considered some of the most dangerous snakes in the US. I wonder how they evolved this ability. Did they have the protein due to a mutation or was that something that happened over time? Sometime you can develop a slight immunity due to previous exposure. Very interesting.
ReplyDelete-Gene
I think that the creation of a cure for snake venom is truly amazing. However, there are some concerns that I have for this treatments. I worry that there could be a chance that health care industry may want to make a huge profit off the cure since it is "inexpensive" to make. Is there a chance that the industry could decide to focus on making a profit rather than helping save lives?
ReplyDeletePosted by Nicholas Georgette (Group #2)
That is definitely a valid concern, however I don’t think it will come into play with this case. Because the protein is naturally occurring, and not synthetically engineered, I don’t think that a patent can be placed on the product. That should help it remain remain inexpensive.
DeletePosted by John Mariano
This post was really interesting to read. I never knew that possums displayed resistance to snake venom. If the protein responsible for this could be mass produced for little cost, it could help save a lot of people in developing countries. Even those that are able to pay for treatment need to be transported to a facility that has the species-specific anti-venom. Instead of losing lives and limbs due to the extra time this takes, people would be able to receive treatment from the nearest medical facility. What surprised me the most about this is that the protein works even with snake bites from species outside of North America. It makes me wonder what the genetic and evolutionary basis for this phenomenon is.
ReplyDeletePosted by Meagan Gustafson
I think that the creation of a cure for snake venom is something that can help so much. and it's actually interesting how long it has taken to come up with something. but i wonder if this can affect the possums population. i feel like the health department can abuse this since it's probably cheaper than other things.
ReplyDeletePosted by Pam Jimenez
This sounds like an amazing find, since we all know about how deadly these poisonous snake venoms can be. I find it quite hopeful that research has led to a neutralization method for these somewhat rare venoms because those are usually the ones that lead to deaths due to the difficulty in finding viable treatments upon being bitten. I think more research should be done towards making this more applicable in a human way.
ReplyDeletePosted by Brian Lee