Chapter 56 - Insect Venom Peptides

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the biologically active Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants) venoms. The peptide components of venoms from social Hymenoptera are spread over the molar mass range of 1400–7000 kDa and together comprise up to 70% of the weight of freeze-dried Hymenoptera venoms. Honeybee (Apis mellifera) venom contains well known peptides such as: melittin, apamin, tertiapin, secapin, and MCD-peptide. Some of these peptides present a detergent-like action on plasma membranes, causing cell lysis, while others are neurotoxins. The venoms of social wasps contain a series of polycationic amphipathic peptides, such as mastoparans, chemotactic peptides, and wasp kinins, presenting a series of multifunctional pharmacological actions, which generally contribute to the occurrence of intense inflammatory processes. Contrary to social wasps, solitary wasps offensively use their venoms for prey capture; they inject their venoms into prey insects or spiders to paralyze and use them to feed their larvae. Therefore, the solitary wasp venoms should contain some neurotoxins acting on nervous systems and antimicrobial peptides to prevent their prey from being colonized by pathogenic microorganisms.