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CONTAMINATION. "Researchers called for further work into the possibility that metal instruments used in medical procedures could pick up harmful proteins which survive conventional sterilisation with formaldehyde." http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/09/protein-linked-to-alzheimers-could-be-spread-during-surgery-say-researchers View in LinkedIn

COORDINATED ANT DEFENSE. "Many ants squirt formic acid in huge jets (up to a meter) in a coordinated fashion when threatened". An ant is about 10(-3) meters, so to spray 1 meter is 1/0.001 or 1,000 times their height. The Eiffel Tower is 301 meters high, and the average man 1.7 meters, so the ant spray is the equivalent of a human spraying to the top of 5.6 stacked Eiffel towers. Watch this video of ants in action by David Attenborough. https://lnkd.in/eBaemnV View in LinkedIn

HARD TO KILL. "Prions, however, are infectious by their effect on normal versions of the protein. Sterilizing prions, therefore, requires the denaturation of the protein to a state in which the molecule is no longer able to induce the abnormal folding of normal proteins. In general, prions are quite resistant to proteases, heat, radiation, and formalin treatments, although their infectivity can be reduced by such treatments." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prion View in LinkedIn

MAMMALIAN PROTEINS IN ARSENAL. "The poison of many stinging nettles contains formic acid, although scientists have discovered that other chemicals are also present. These probably contribute to the painful sting. The additional chemicals include acetylcholine, serotonin and histamine." https://lnkd.in/eR-p3J9 View in LinkedIn

YEAST PRIONS. "Self-propagating abnormal proteins, prions, have been identified in yeast; asparagine/glutamine-rich ‘prion domains’ within these proteins can inactivate the linked functional domains; new prion domains and reporters have been used to make ‘synthetic prions’, leading to discoveries of new natural prions." https://lnkd.in/eersnh6 View in LinkedIn

ANT-IDOTE. Fire ants attack tawny crazy ants with their venom which usually kills target insects. Tawny crazy ants respond by secreting formic acid to bathe themselves in. This is the antidote to the fire ant toxin, and forms an ionic liquid (liquid salts with very low meeting points) not before found in nature. https://lnkd.in/eHuSE6W View in LinkedIn

SHEEP SCRAPIE. "Many distinct strains of scrapie prions have been derived from sheep scrapie isolates. Because different strains can be propagated in a single inbred mouse line (homozygous with regard to its PrP gene) the same PrP molecule must be able to mediate different strain phenotypes." https://lnkd.in/ey5nHGn View in LinkedIn

TOTAL PRODUCTION. "Assuming a standing population of 160,000 workers, 35% of whom are majors, an average mature S. invicta colony contains roughly 3.2 g of venom. With 2.4 million workers produced during an average colony’s 7-year life span a grand total of roughly 43 g of venom is generated, representing 2.2% of an approximate total 2 kg of ants." (Fire ants). https://lnkd.in/emaJzBX View in LinkedIn

RELOADING. "For the beetle to refurbish the 0.7 mg of formic acid expended in a single discharge would demand 9 mg of protein, while synthesizing formic acid at the observed rate would require 1.6 mg of protein per day, or 1% of beetle body mass. Defense, evidently, does not come “free” for G. lecontei." https://lnkd.in/ePUU9mM View in LinkedIn

FIRE ANT VENOM. "The overall average venom dose was 0.56 mg...Thus, a typical worker contains around 32 average venom doses, each of which represents 3.1% of her total venom supply. At the initial venom synthesis rate of 1.17 mg/mm3/day, it takes a worker with a headwidth of 1 mm about 11.5 h after eclosion to generate one average venom dose (0.56 mg)." https://lnkd.in/emaJzBX View in LinkedIn