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Many animals use venoms for self-defense or hunting. The components of such venom, known as toxins, interfere with various physiological processes—which is also the reason why they are so interesting for the development of new pharmacological agents.

While the venoms of some animal groups—including snakes, spiders, scorpions and insects—have already been quite well studied, the situation is entirely different for marine animal groups. Here, data exist only for individual animal species, meaning this group still holds great untapped potential.

It was only discovered a few years ago that there also exist venomous crustaceans—remipedes that look more like centipedes and live in marine underwater caves. A multidisciplinary research team led by Dr. Björn von Reumont, who first described the venom system in remipedes in 2014 and is currently a guest researcher at Goethe University Frankfurt, has now characterized a group of toxins from the Xibalbanus tulumensis remipede.

Reumont put together a team consisting of cooperation partners from Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine (ITMP) within the framework of the LOEWE Center for Translational Biodiversity, as well as colleagues from the University of Leuven, from Cologne, Berlin and Munich—all of them also part of the European Venom Network (COST Action EUVEN). Their research is published in the journal BMC Biology.

The Xibalbanus tulumensis remipede lives in the cenotes, which are the underwater cave systems on the Mexican Yucatan peninsula. The cave dweller injects the venom produced in its venom gland directly into its prey. This toxin contains a variety of components, including a new type of peptide, named xibalbine, after its crustacean producer.

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