Will humans, like many animals, ever become poisonous?

If this question seems inconsistent, it has attracted the attention of Japanese and Australian researchers. In a study published on March 29, these researchers found that there was a genetic link between the salivary glands of mammals and the poisonous glands of snakes. Humans have the ability to naturally produce calicarin, a protein secreted in saliva that is believed to be the basis of many poisons. However, we have evolved differently from our friends from reptiles and we have not developed this ability to produce poisons to hunt or defend ourselves.

“Many scientists believe that this was the case, but this is the first time that venom glands have evolved from salivary glands”, Says the basis of the study, Agnesh Barua.

Medical utility

However, he assures that there is little chance, if there is no chance, that humans will one day develop poison. For that, our way of life, and especially our way of eating, must change completely. Live Science reports that animals that develop venom have done so to control their prey or defend themselves.

Work with us @AgneeshBarua Has just been published! We found that snake venom glands share much of the regulatory mechanism with tetrapod salivary glands, and propose an integrated model of early venom development from this shared starting point. https://t.co/olJuo5I6L1 pic.twitter.com/1OJ94dfKoK

– Sasha (Alexander) Mikheyev (@SashaMikheyev) March 30, 2021

According to Brian Fry, a biochemist at the University of Queensland, an understanding of how the genes behind the production of venom can be useful in medicine. This in particular makes it possible to better understand some human diseases such as cancer, “Which in large part causes disease and death as the tissue begins to grow uncontrollably and release products to places in the body where it should not be”, Live Science Science.