This week Reactions is looking at chemistry in bizarre places that could save your life. The science within the blood of the Komodo dragon or in a horseshoe crab can help with antibiotic resistance. But it doesn’t end there, so we’re taking a closer look at other wild places in nature that we’ve found fantastic drugs!

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Writer/Producer:
Kirk Zamieroski

Executive Producer:
Adam Dylewski

Scientific consultants:
Al Segars, Ph.D.
Jacqueline Fries, Ph.D.
John Yates, Ph.D.
Darcy Gentleman, Ph.D.
Kyle Nackers

Music:
Roberto Daglio – Con Todo Meu Amor
Smidi – Cadillac Candy

Special Thanks to Schoolyard Films for giving us the awesome Horseshoe Crab Blood milking footage. See their in depth video on horseshoe crabs here:

https://florida.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/7fc02c9a-5678-4eab-9d10-0485fe66363e/horseshoe-crabs-prehistoric-paramedics/#.WWTKucaB2_U

SOURCES:

Antibacterial resistance – https://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/community/about/antibiotic-resistance-faqs.html

Komodo Dragon’s Blood – https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/presspacs/2017/acs-presspac-february-22-2017/antimicrobial-substances-identified-in-Komodo-dragon-blood.html

Biofilms – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2732559/
& https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23635385

Antimicrobials in Komodo Dragon blood – http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.jproteome.6b00857

VK25 inspires the DRGN-1 peptide – https://www.nature.com/articles/s41522-017-0017-2

DRGN-1 Kills biofilms – https://www.asm.org/index.php/2015-12-11-13-38-57/2-uncategorised/94002-antimicrobial-properties-of-peptides-derived-from-reptiles

MRSA is getting crazy – https://thefern.org/ag_insider/pig-related-infections-spread-denmark-may-u-s/

Dendrilla Membrosa – http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/np50123a020

Darwinolide Story – https://phys.org/news/2016-06-antarctic-sponge-deadly-mrsa-infection.html

Darwinolide – http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.orglett.6b00979?src=recsys

Horseshoe crabs “over 300 million years old” – https://www.nwf.org/Wildlife/Wildlife-Library/Invertebrates/Horseshoe-Crab.aspx

3-15% die, based on interviews with biologists –
http://www.radiolab.org/story/213797-krulwich-wonders-what-vampire-said-horseshoe-crab-your-blood-blue/

Evolutionary info on horseshoe crabs –
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/pr1002033

The original 1956 paper by Frederick Bang that got everything going –
https://web.archive.org/web/20090719101429/http://www.mbl.edu:80/marine_org/images/animals/Limulus/Bang/index.html

How Blue Blood coagulates around endotoxins –
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3756735/

Crab Bleeding – http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a26038/the-blood-of-the-crab/

LAL v TAL
http://bio.lonza.com/uploads/tx_mwaxmarketingmaterial/Lonza_AppNotesTossSheets_FDA_and_USP_can_help_promote_horseshoe_crab_conservation.pdf

Hemocyanin – http://www.jbc.org/content/276/19/15563.full

Ever wonder why dogs sniff each others’ butts? Or how Adderall works? Or whether it’s OK to pee in the pool? We’ve got you covered: Reactions a web series about the chemistry that surrounds you every day.

Reactions is produced by the American Chemical Society.