I Vacuum Venom from the World's Deadliest Spider

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Huge thanks to the Australian Reptile Park for having us over to film – special thanks to Jake Meney for showing us the spiders and Caitlin Vine for organizing the shoot. https://www.reptilepark.com.au

Huge thanks to Dr Timothy Jackson with his help and answering our questions.

Thanks to Seqirus Australia for providing B-roll footage of the antivenom production process.


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References:

Pineda, S. S., Sollod, B. L., Wilson, D., Darling, A., Sunagar, K., Undheim, E. A., ... & King, G. F. (2014). Diversification of a single ancestral gene into a successful toxin superfamily in highly venomous Australian funnel-web spiders. BMC genomics, 15(1), 1-16 - https://ve42.co/Pineda2014

Isbister, G. K., Gray, M. R., Balit, C. R., Raven, R. J., Stokes, B. J., Porges, K., ... & Fisher, M. M. (2005). Funnel-web spider bite: a systematic review of recorded clinical cases. Medical journal of Australia, 182(8), 407-411 - https://ve42.co/Isbister2005

Herzig, V., Sunagar, K., Wilson, D. T., Pineda, S. S., Israel, M. R., Dutertre, S., ... & Fry, B. G. (2020). Australian funnel-web spiders evolved human-lethal δ-hexatoxins for defense against vertebrate predators. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 117(40), 24920-24928 - https://ve42.co/Herzig2020

Nicholson, G. M., & Graudins, A. (2002). Spiders of medical importance in the Asia–Pacific: Atracotoxin, latrotoxin and related spider neurotoxins. Clinical and experimental pharmacology and physiology, 29(9), 785-794 - https://ve42.co/Nicholson2002

Fletcher, J. I., Chapman, B. E., Mackay, J. P., Howden, M. E., & King, G. F. (1997). The structure of versutoxin (δ-atracotoxin-Hv1) provides insights into the binding of site 3 neurotoxins to the voltage-gated sodium channel. Structure, 5(11), 1525-1535 - https://ve42.co/Fletcher1997

Australian Reptile Park. (2022). Snake and Spider First Aid - https://ve42.co/ARPFirstAid

The Australian Museum. (20 ). Spider facts - https://ve42.co/SpiderFacts


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Written by Katie Barnshaw & Derek Muller
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Filmed by Petr Lebedev, Derek Muller and Jason Tran
Animation by Ivy Tello, Jakub Misiek and Fabio Albertelli
Neuron animation by Reciprocal Space – https://www.reciprocal.space
Additional video/photos supplied from Getty Images, Pond5
B-roll supplied by Seqirus Australia
Music from Epidemic Sound
Produced by Derek Muller, Petr Lebedev, Emily Zhang & Katie Barnshaw