Animal toxins and their advantages in biotechnology and pharmacology

Biodiversity provides a huge source of new chemical entities that could be useful for the development of new therapies. An example is venomous animals, which produce venoms that share common features, such as compositions characterized by a complex combination of bioactive proteins and peptides with wide structural diversity. The biological activities of these compounds are selective and specific and are currently dependent on the synergic action of several components. Thus, animal venoms are important tools for carrying out biochemical, physiological, and pathological studies, as well as for the development of new biotechnological and pharmaceutical products.