Antimicrobial Substances from Wasps and Toads Studied

I ran across these two articles about antimicrobial studies on Beewolf Digger Wasps and Giant Fire Bellied Toads. The articles didn't mention what human uses they may be able to make of it yet but I thought this information was interesting.

The Beewolf Digger variety of wasp has a bacteria in its antennae that excretes 9 different types of antibiotics. These antibiotics protect the antennae from dangerous fungi and bacteria. The female wasp also incorporates this good bacteria it caries into the cocoon of its offspring to keep them safe from bacteria and fungi.

Scientists have found that the Giant Fire Bellied Toad's brain synthesis many antimicrobial substances to secret them through their porous skin.

They discovered 79 different antimicrobial peptides, the components of proteins, including 59 that were totally new to science. The diversity of the peptides "is, to our knowledge, the most extreme yet described for any animal brains," they noted.

The antimicrobials that are synthesized by this toad are able to neutralize or destroy strains of staph bacteria, E. coli, and the fungus that causes yeast infections in humans.

This is pretty neat. Hopefully we can learn something from studying animals like these, so we can learn about finding a more natural way for our bodies to fight off pathogens. Insted of pumping ourselves full of chemicals developed by drug companies.

Wasp Article Link
Older Wasp Antimicrobial Cocoon Article
Beewolf Wasp Info

Fire Bellied Toad Article
Fire Bellied Toads Info