Antibacterial potential of venom extracted from wolf spider, Lycosa terrestris (Araneae: Lycosiade)

Abstract

The wolf spider Lycosa terrestris (Araneae: Lycosidae) is a well known arthropod containing toxic compounds. It has significant predatory potential in addition to its uses in medicinal and insecticidal formulation. Current investigations were aimed to extract and partially characterize the venom of L. terrestris and the susceptibility tests to evaluate antibacterial potential of venom supernatant and venom pellets against four pathogenic bacterial strains i.e., Gram negative Acinetobacter sp. and Pasteurella sp. and Gram Positive Staphylococcus sp. and Streptococcus sp. Results of this study revealed that the venom of L. terrestris contained six relatively high molecular weight peptides ranging from 125 kDa to 35 kDa. Moreover, results of the susceptibility test confirmed the bacteriostatic action of venom supernatant against aerobic Gram negative Acinetobacter sp. in dose dependent manner. A reduced trend of bacteriostatic inhibition was also observed for venom pellets against Acinetobacter sp

Parasites of spiders: Their impacts on host behavior and ecology

“…Venom supernatant extracted from a wolf spider (Lycosa terrestris Butt, Anwar & Tahir, 2006) inhibited the growth of aerobic Gram-negative Acinetobacter sp. (Tahir et al 2018). Lastly, venom from a recluse spider (Loxosceles gaucho Gertsch, 1967) has a complex effect on virulence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa; exhibiting antimicrobial properties but also the potential for increasing P. aeruginosa biofilm formation (de Oliveira Domingos et al 2018; see Medical arachnology section in Future Directions).…”