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Toxins
Special Issues
Venoms of Aquatic Organisms: Biochemistry, Evolution, and Future Perspectives
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Venoms of Aquatic Organisms: Biochemistry, Evolution, and Future Perspectives

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine and Freshwater Toxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 1127

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Richard J. Harris

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), Townsville, QLD, Australia
Interests: marine venoms; fish venom; evolution; ecology; biochemistry

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Marine and freshwater ecosystems are some of the most diverse environments on Earth, where adaptive traits such as venom have evolved and flourished across speciose groups such as cephalopods, cnidarians, echinoderms, fish, mollusks, and nemerteans. Research investigating the venom of aquatic organisms pales in comparison to their terrestrial counterparts. It could be argued that aquatic venom research has fallen short due to the difficulties experienced when obtaining specimens and the labor of elucidating and preserving venom biochemistry. However, in the past decade, there has been an exciting increase in investigations involving venomous aquatic organisms, partly due to major advancements in -omics technologies; this progress has engendered the discipline-specific methodologies of venomics. However, research on aquatic venom continues to lag behind, and thus efforts to better understand the venom and venom systems of these organisms are of great importance.

This Special Issue aims to provide a broad research perspective regarding the venom of aquatic organisms. I welcome investigations that address venom biochemistry, bioprospecting, evolution, ecology, envenomation, morphology, and future perspectives within the field. I look forward to receiving your submissions and hope that we can advance this research field together.

Dr. Richard J. Harris
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • marine
  • freshwater
  • venom evolution
  • venom ecology
  • venom biochemistry

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 6122 KiB  
Communication
Assessing the Utility of Broad-Acting Inhibitors as Therapeutics in Diverse Venoms
by Raechel Kadler, Breanna Morrison and Angel Anne Yanagihara
Toxins 2025, 17(4), 188; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins17040188 - 8 Apr 2025
Viewed by 312
Abstract
Examination of venom constituent bioactivities from diverse venomous animals shows certain highly conserved classes, including enzymes (e.g., phospholipases and metalloproteinases) and pore-forming proteins. While antivenoms targeting other unique and lethal venom components have proven to be life-saving, venom-enzyme-driven tissue damage and morbidity persists. [...] Read more.
Examination of venom constituent bioactivities from diverse venomous animals shows certain highly conserved classes, including enzymes (e.g., phospholipases and metalloproteinases) and pore-forming proteins. While antivenoms targeting other unique and lethal venom components have proven to be life-saving, venom-enzyme-driven tissue damage and morbidity persists. Broad-acting enzyme inhibitors demonstrate the potential to augment antivenom approaches. In this study, we investigate the potential utility of certain broad-acting inhibitors in cubozoa for the first time. Fluorogenic assays were used to determine the phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity of the Hawaiian box jellyfish, Alatina alata, and this was compared to representative elapid, viper, and bee venoms. In vitro, evaluation of selected small-molecule inhibitors demonstrated the ability and feasibility of the broad-acting therapeutic doxycycline, which inhibited the PLA2 and MMP activity of A. alata (approximately 50% reduction at 0.1 mM (95% CI 0.06–0.15) and 2.1 mM (95% CI 1.4–3.0), respectively), in addition to both snake venoms. Additionally, copper gluconate broadly inhibited the PLA2 activity of bee, snake, and jellyfish venoms. While all venoms are complex mixtures of bioactive molecules, these studies demonstrate that targeting common class components with broad-acting inhibitors shows promise in clinical and preclinical management. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Venoms of Aquatic Organisms: Biochemistry, Evolution, and Future Perspectives)
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17 pages, 1729 KiB  
Article
Sting Stories: Firsthand Experiences of Fish Envenomation Through a Small-Scale Questionnaire
by Richard J. Harris, Silvia L. Saggiomo, Gillian Paxton and Cherie A. Motti
Toxins 2025, 17(3), 134; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins17030134 - 13 Mar 2025
Viewed by 511
Abstract
Stings from venomous bony and cartilaginous fishes are known to cause extreme pain in humans, and with changing migratory patterns and distributions due to climate change, human interactions with venomous fishes may increase. Therefore, developing a better understanding of venomous fish stings and [...] Read more.
Stings from venomous bony and cartilaginous fishes are known to cause extreme pain in humans, and with changing migratory patterns and distributions due to climate change, human interactions with venomous fishes may increase. Therefore, developing a better understanding of venomous fish stings and the associated pain can provide better solutions for first aid and treatments, particularly in areas or within populations with a higher risk of being stung. Using the results from an online questionnaire, this study discusses the perspectives of 121 people with direct experience of fish stings, exploring the contexts in which fish stings occurred, their firsthand experiences of pain, sting pathophysiology, experiences with medical treatments, and the long-term consequences of fish stings. This small-scale survey has proved successful for the exploration of fish sting experiences, and as such, an approach of this nature should be considered to better understand victim’s experiences with other painful animal stings. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Venoms of Aquatic Organisms: Biochemistry, Evolution, and Future Perspectives)
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