ABSTRACT
The recent production of pesticides that have emanated from studies of natural products obtained from plants (e.g., pyrethroids) and microorganisms (e.g., avermectins) has awakened interest in the potential of natural products from other living organisms as lead structures for pesticide discovery. With this in mind, we have investigated whether spider venoms might contain compounds of interest to the chemical industry, although as basic research scientists, we were also interested in their potential as probes for important mechanisms and molecules in excitable systems of insects and other animals.
