Cells regulate their internal environment using a sensitive network of membrane channels that control the flow of ions and water molecules into and out of the cells (SN: 10/18/03, p. 246: Available to subscribers at Nobel Prize in Chemistry Opens Channels: Research reveals vital function of tiny pores in cell membranes). Two new studies published in the July 8 Nature claim that compounds in tarantula venom interfere with these channels in an unusual way.
Philip Gottlieb of the State University of New York, Buffalo and his colleagues investigated the action of one venom chemical on stretch-activated channels, which open and close in response to changes in a membrane’s tension. Researchers had expected that the compound, a protein fragment, or peptide, bound to and closed the channel, which is normally open.