Blowfly protein key to terror poison antidote

A protein that costs the Australian sheep industry hundreds of millions of dollars each year may also pave the way to an antidote for chemical warfare agents. Having a better understanding of the structure of this protein will not only benefit farmers by enabling design of more effective pesticides, but is the first step towards creating an antidote for victims of chemical warfare agents, such as sarin gas. "The silver lining in the development of insecticide resistance in blowflies is that nature might have created a potential treatment for human organophosphate poisoning," said lead author Dr Colin Jackson of the Research School of Chemistry. Organophosphates are commonly used insecticides which act by blocking nerve signals in insects. The effectiveness of these insecticides has been decreasing in recent years due to insects developing resistance. "The Australian sheep blowfly has been exposed to organophosphates for decades and now produces a mutated protein, called alpha-esterase-7, which has evolved to soak up and detoxify the organophosphate, so flies can now survive being sprayed," said Dr Jackson. In addition to their use as insecticides, organophosphates are highly toxic to humans, meaning farmers who are accidentally poisoned and victims of terror attacks using organophosphate-based nerve agents, such as sarin gax or VX, are very difficult to treat.