Diamphotoxin Explained

Diamphotoxin is a toxin produced by larvae and pupae of the beetle genus Diamphidia. Diamphotoxin is a hemolytic, cardiotoxic, and highly labile single-chain polypeptide bound to a protein that protects it from deactivation.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Diamphotoxin increases the permeability of cell membranes of red blood cells. Although this does not affect the normal flow of ions between cells, it allows all small ions to pass through cell membranes easily, which fatally disrupts the cells' ion levels.^[4] Although diamphotoxin has no neurotoxic effect, its hemolytic effect is lethal, and may reduce hemoglobin levels by as much as 75%.^[5]

The San people of Southern Africa use diamphotoxin as an arrow poison for hunting game. The toxin paralyses muscles gradually. Large mammals hunted in this way die slowly from a small injection of the poison.^[6]

Several leaf beetles species of genus Leptinotarsa produce a similar toxin, leptinotarsin.

See also

• Palytoxin
• Arrow poison

Further reading

• Gelashvili . D. B. . Natural toxins in inter- and intraspecies interaction of human being (elements of ethnotoxinology) . ru . Zhurnal Obshcheĭ Biologii . 63 . 3 . 258–69 . 2002 . 12070945 .
• Bernheimer . A. W. . Rudy . B. . Interactions between membranes and cytolytic peptides . Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Reviews on Biomembranes . 864 . 1 . 123–41 . June 1986 . 2424507 . 10.1016/0304-4157(86)90018-3.

External links

• Diamphotoxin at PubChem. Retrieved 4 July 2013.

Notes and References

1. de la Harpe . J. . Reich . E. . Reich . K. A. . Dowdle . E. B. . Diamphotoxin. The arrow poison of the !Kung Bushmen . . 258 . 19 . 11924–31 . October 1983 . 10.1016/S0021-9258(17)44321-3 . 6311829 . 4 July 2013. free . 11427/27499 . free .
2. Mebs . D. . Brüning . F. . Pfaff . N. . Neuwinger . H. D. . Preliminary studies on the chemical properties of the toxic principle from Diamphidia nigroornata larvae, a source of Bushman arrow poison . . 6 . 1 . 1–11 . July 1982 . 7109661 . 10.1016/0378-8741(82)90068-X .
3. Woollard . J. M. . Fuhrman . F. A. . Mosher . H. S. . The Bushman arrow toxin, Diamphidia toxin: Isolation from pupae of Diamphidia nigro-ornata . . 22 . 6 . 937–46 . 1984 . 6523515 . 10.1016/0041-0101(84)90185-5.
4. Jacobsen . T. F. . Sand . O. . Bjøro . T. . Karlsen . H. E. . Iversen . J. G. . Effect of Diamphidia toxin, a Bushman arrow poison, on ionic permeability in nucleated cells . . 28 . 4 . 435–44 . 1990 . 2161574 . 10.1016/0041-0101(90)90082-i.
5. Kao . C. Y. . Salwen . M. J. . Hu . S. L. . Pitter . H. M. . Woollard . J. M. . Diamphidia toxin, the Bushmen's arrow poison: Possible mechanism of prey-killing . . 27 . 12 . 1351–66 . 1989 . 2629177 . 10.1016/0041-0101(89)90067-6.
6. Book: Chaboo, Caroline . Weir . Tiffany . Vivanco . Jorge M. . Defensive behaviors in leaf beetles: From the unusual to the weird . http://biodiversity.ku.edu/sites/default/files/publications/chaboo-2011.pdf . Chemical Biology of the Tropics: An Interdisciplinary Approach . Signaling and Communication in Plants . . Berlin . 2011 . 59–69 . 978-3-642-19079-7 . 706961677 . 4 July 2013 . 7 December 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131207080336/http://biodiversity.ku.edu/sites/default/files/publications/chaboo-2011.pdf . dead .