toxins Article Insect-Active Toxins with Promiscuous Pharmacology from the African Theraphosid Spider Monocentropus balfouri Jennifer J. Smith 1,†, Volker Herzig 1,†, Maria P. Ikonomopoulou 1,†,‡, Sławomir Dziemborowicz 2, Frank Bosmans 3, Graham M. Nicholson 2 and Glenn F. King 1,* 1 Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia;
[email protected] (J.J.S.);
[email protected] (V.H.);
[email protected] (M.P.I.) 2 School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Sydney 2007, Australia;
[email protected] (S.D.);
[email protected] (G.M.N). 3 Department of Physiology & Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +61-7-3346-2025 † These authors contributed equally to this work. ‡ Present address: QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Herston, QLD 4006, Australia. Academic Editor: Lourival D. Possani Received: 28 March 2017; Accepted: 28 April 2017; Published: 5 May 2017 Abstract: Many chemical insecticides are becoming less efficacious due to rising resistance in pest species, which has created much interest in the development of new, eco-friendly bioinsecticides. Since insects are the primary prey of most spiders, their venoms are a rich source of insect-active peptides that can be used as leads for new bioinsecticides or as tools to study molecular receptors that are insecticidal targets. In the present study, we isolated two insecticidal peptides, µ/!-TRTX-Mb1a and -Mb1b, from venom of the African tarantula Monocentropus balfouri.