Paralysing venom of wasp may hold clue to curing human illnesses

Biologists at St Andrews University studied species commonly known as "jewel wasps" – small but deadly insects with a poisonous venom.

The wasps do not sting humans but the larvae of other insects – altering their metabolism and shutting down their immune systems so that their own young can feed on them.

Now doctors could use the "fascinating qualities of the wasps' sting" to develop new drugs to treat conditions in humans.

Dr David Shuker, a research fellow at St Andrews University's school of biology, said that the adult female wasp "hunted down" the pupa of a bluebottle or a housefly and stung it before laying her own eggs on top.

The "predatory" wasp larvae then feast on the pupae as they develop over a period of around two weeks into adult wasps.

The research was published yesterday in the journal Science. Dr Shuker said: "Parasitoid venoms do all sorts of amazing things to their prey, altering the host's metabolism, shutting down its immune system, and generally preparing the host to be consumed by the growing larvae of the wasp.

"The venom interferes with all sorts of processes, paralysing the host and stopping it from rotting – releasing all the nutrients that the fly has over a long period until it is completely destroyed.

"What we want to do when we are developing new medicines is, potentially, to intervene in cellular processes.

"All these changes to a host's physiology that a wasp manages to control by its venom might identify unexpected new avenues for drug development.

"These parasites are really more like predators. They eat the host alive."

Dr Shuker added: "Although for many of us wasps are big, yellow and black, and uninvited guests at picnics and barbecues, many thousands of species of wasps are small, unobtrusive, and deadly."