Platypus is one of the mammals that has a cute and adorable face. However, don't get me wrong, this animal with a duck beak, turns out to have a lot of poison in its body. According to researchers, the platypus produces 80 different types of poison from its body. The genes that the platypus has are said to be similar to other venomous animals including snakes, lizards, stars sea, and sea anemones. This was revealed in a study on the platypus in 2010 which was published in the journal Genome Biology. Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, Wesley Warren revealed the evolution of the platypus, namely the eyes, fins, and wings of the platypus which appear to have evolved naturally. Meanwhile, the platypus venom is an example of convergent evolution in which two species of different breeds have morphological forms. The platypus is a semi-aquatic egg-laying mammal usually found in Australia. This species is one of the few mammals that produces venom. However, the only venom possessed by the male platypus is excreted through the spurs of its hind ankles.
Interestingly, the males only make poison during the breeding season. Warren explained, this may be done by male platypuses to defend their territory from males of other groups. On the other hand, Warren and his team have sequenced messenger RNA (mRNA) from the poison glands of dead male platypuses. To identify the content in platypus venom, they looked for genes. which are not produced in other tissues as well as venom-like genes from other animals. The scans showed as many as 83 genes in 13 different venom families associated with inflammation, nerve damage, muscle contraction, and blood clotting. Put simply, the platypus makes 26 types of protease enzymes. a different serine that is usually found in snake venom. The other seven venom genes resemble a neurotoxin produced by spiders called alpha-latrotoxin.
"Additional testing is needed to determine the function of each toxin," Warren said.
He added that so far his research may have missed the number of coding genes in platypus venom, because the method the researchers used ignored genes similar to other animal venoms. They therefore learned more about the genes that the platypus activates when secreting the venom.
"Animals end up using the same genes as building blocks for toxins because only a subset of the proteins that encode the genes have the structural and functional properties to be toxic," Warren said.
Meanwhile, the head of the laboratory at the University of Melbourne, Australia, Bryan Fry said, that closely related animals tend to produce similar toxins.
"If you want to find something that is potentially useful in planning and drug development from a venom, you are more likely to find it in a new venom like platypus venom than in a rattlesnake," said Fry.
The effects of the platypus poison
Although not fatal, the venom of the male platypus can be fatal. Doctors in Australia reported a case in which a 57-year-old man was exposed to the poison after he caught one of the small mammals while fishing.
"The pain (from the platypus venom) was so painful that I started to get confused," said the man.
In fact, painkillers such as ibuprofen and morphine did not reduce the pain, instead one finger was swollen and painful for more than 4 months after taking the drug.
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