Hymenoptera: Pure Venom from Bees, Wasps, and Hornets

Abstract

Pure venom can be obtained from bees, wasps, and hornets by electrical stimulation with inexpensive apparatus.

Defensive Mechanisms in the Social Hymenoptera

“…Descriptions of the venom glands have been presented in vespine wasps by Barr-Nea et al (1976), Bor das (1895), Kan war and Sethi (1971), Kan war and Kanwar (1975), Koschevnikov (1899) and Parvlowski (1927), in the Apini chiefly by Kerr and deLello (1962), Maa (1953), O'Connor andPeck (1978) and Snodgrass (1956); in the Bombini chiefly by Kerr and deLello (1962), Mello (1970), O'Connor et al (1963), and O'Connor and Peck (1978; in the Meliponini chiefly by Kerr and deLello (1962), and in the Formicidae by numerous individuals (see Blum and Hermann, 1978a,b, for a review). Descriptions of the venom glands have been presented in vespine wasps by Barr-Nea et al (1976), Bor das (1895), Kan war and Sethi (1971), Kan war and Kanwar (1975), Koschevnikov (1899) and Parvlowski (1927), in the Apini chiefly by Kerr and deLello (1962), Maa (1953), O'Connor andPeck (1978) and Snodgrass (1956); in the Bombini chiefly by Kerr and deLello (1962), Mello (1970), O'Connor et al (1963), and O'Connor and Peck (1978; in the Meliponini chiefly by Kerr and deLello (1962), and in the Formicidae by numerous individuals (see Blum and Hermann, 1978a,b, for a review).…”

Combined Peptidomic and Proteomic Analysis of Electrically Stimulated and Manually Dissected Venom from the South American Bullet Ant Paraponera clavata

“…The other advantage of electrical stimulation, if performed en mass, is that it can give a higher yield of venom, is less time consuming and keeps the organism alive for subsequent venom extraction 34 . If mass milking is not possible, as is the case with vespid venoms 27 , then automated methods of milking individual venoms have also been proposed 35 . Previous work suggests that dissected venom contains most of the proteins that are in electrically stimulated venom but also other proteins that are usually contaminants from the venom gland including cellular proteins used in metabolic machinery or toxin maturation and processing 13,27,36,37 .…”

“…However, if isolation of only one certain venom component is desired, then electrical stimulation would be the better collection method, as it increases the likelihood of isolating the potent component due to the absence of contaminants such as structural proteins from the venom gland. , The other advantage of electrical stimulation, if performed en mass, is that it can give a higher yield of venom, is less time-consuming, and keeps the organism alive for subsequent venom extraction . If mass milking is not possible, as is the case with vespid venoms, then automated methods of milking individual venoms have also been proposed . Previous work suggests that dissected venom contains most of the proteins that are in electrically stimulated venom but also other proteins that are usually contaminants from the venom gland including cellular proteins used in metabolic machinery or toxin maturation and processing. ,,, Electrically stimulated venom may therefore give a more genuine representation of the venom components.…”

“…34 If mass milking is not possible, as is the case with vespid venoms, 27 then automated methods of milking individual venoms have also been proposed. 35 Previous work suggests that dissected venom contains most of the proteins that are in electrically stimulated venom but also other proteins that are usually contaminants from the venom gland including cellular proteins used in metabolic machinery or toxin maturation and processing. 13,27,36,37 Electrically stimulated venom may therefore give a more genuine representation of the venom components.…”

Discovery of novel peptide neurotoxins from sea anemone species

“…Electrical stimulation is often used to extract animal venom from inland poisonous animals such as spiders, scorpions, and wasps [94][95][96]. Malpezzi et al [48] applied electrical stimulation to extract sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus (formerly Stoichactis helianthus) venom for the first time and successfully isolated BcI, BcII, and BcIII.…”