BioTD: An Online Database of Biotoxins.
Wang G, Wu H, Liao Y, Chen Z, Zhou Q
Medicinal Plants
Dozens of plants in your garden or local woods — from foxglove to monkshood — produce compounds that have become heart medications and painkillers, and this new database makes it far easier for researchers to find the next one hiding in plain sight.
Scientists created a giant free library cataloging almost 9,000 natural toxins from plants, animals, and microbes, along with detailed information on what each one does in the body. This is important because many powerful medicines — including blood pressure drugs and painkillers — were originally discovered in venoms and plant poisons. Having all this data in one searchable place could dramatically speed up the hunt for new treatments.
Key Findings
BioTD contains 14,607 data records covering 8,975 toxins from over 900 species, sourced from 5,220 references and patents.
The database includes 8,185 biological activity records categorized into five groups: Activity, Safety, Kinetics, Hemolysis, and other physiological indicators.
BioTD also documents 1,532 toxin mutants and annotates structural details like disulfide bonds and signal peptide sequences — all freely downloadable.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers built BioTD, the world's largest open database of biotoxins — poisons made by animals, plants, and microbes — giving drug developers free access to data on nearly 9,000 toxins and their biological effects. This fills a major gap in drug discovery, since many life-saving medicines trace back to natural venoms and plant toxins.
Abstract Preview
Biotoxins, mainly produced by venomous animals, plants, and microorganisms, exhibit high physiological activity and unique effects such as lowering blood pressure and analgesia. A number of venom-d...
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