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Updated: Dec 29, 2025

Harvesting Venom Toxins from Assassin Bugs and Other Heteropteran Insects
Published on: April 21, 2018
The Pharmacopea within Triatomine Salivary Glands
Paula B Santiago1, Carla N de Araújo1, Sébastien Charneau2
1Pathogen-Host Interface Laboratory, Department of Cell Biology, The University of Brasilia, Brasilia, DF, Brazil.
Abstract:
Triatomines are blood-feeding insects that prey on vertebrate hosts. Their saliva is largely responsible for their feeding success. The triatomine salivary content has been studied over the past decades, revealing multifunctional bioactive proteins targeting the host´s hemostasis and immune system. Recently, sequencing of salivary-gland mRNA libraries revealed increasingly complex and complete transcript databases that have been used to validate the expression of deduced proteins through proteomics. This review provides an insight into the journey of discovery and characterization of novel molecules in triatomine saliva.
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