Dr Andrew Walker
Research Fellow
Institute for Molecular Bioscience
+61 7 334 62326
Researcher biography
My research interests are centred around the structure and function of venom and silk polypeptides produced by arthropods, and their use in biotechnology and medicine. I am a Postdoctoral Fellow in the King laboratory in the Institute for Molecular Bioscience, the University of Queensland, Australia. Currently, I am investigating the composition, function and evolution of neglected insect venoms produced by assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae), robber flies (Diptera: Asilidae) and nettle caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae).
Book Chapter
Kameda, Tsunenori, Walker, Andrew A. and Sutherland, Tara D. (2014). Evolution and application of coiled coil silks from insects. Biotechnology of silk. (pp. 87-106) edited by Tetsuo Asakura and Thomas Miller. Dordrecht The Netherlands: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-7119-2_5
Journal Articles
Battisti, Andrea, Walker, Andre.A., Uemura, Mizuki, Zalucki, Myron.P., Brinquin, Anne-Sophie, Caparros-Megidos, Rudy, Gachet, Emmanuel, Kerdelhué, Carole and Desneux, Nicolas (2024). Look but do not touch: the occurrence of venomous species across Lepidoptera. Entomologia Generalis, 44 (1), 29-39. doi: 10.1127/entomologia/2023/2295
Walker, Andrew A., Perkins, Lynda E., Battisti, Andrea, Zalucki, Myron P. and King, Glenn F. (2023). Proteome of urticating setae of Ochrogaster lunifer, a processionary caterpillar of medical and veterinary importance, including primary structures of putative toxins. Proteomics, 23 (20) 2300204, e2300204. doi: 10.1002/pmic.202300204
Pinto, Ciro P. G., Walker, Andrew A., King, Glenn F. and Rossi, Guilherme D. (2023). Immunosuppressive, antimicrobial and insecticidal activities of inhibitor cystine knot peptides produced by teratocytes of the endoparasitoid wasp Cotesia flavipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Insect Science, 30 (4), 1105-1117. doi: 10.1111/1744-7917.13154
Walker, Andrew A., Robinson, Samuel D., Merritt, David J., Cardoso, Fernanda C., Goudarzi, Mohaddeseh Hedayati, Mercedes, Raine S., Eagles, David A., Cooper, Paul, Zdenek, Christina N., Fry, Bryan G., Hall, Donald W., Vetter, Irina and King, Glenn F. (2023). Horizontal gene transfer underlies the painful stings of asp caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Megalopygidae). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120 (29) e2305871120, e2305871120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2305871120
Goudarzi, Mohaddeseh H., Eagles, David A., Lim, Junxian, Biggs, Kimberley A., Kotze, Andrew C., Ruffell, Angela P., Fairlie, David P., King, Glenn F. and Walker, Andrew A. (2023). Venom composition and bioactive RF-amide peptide toxins of the saddleback caterpillar, Acharia stimulea (Lepidoptera: Limacodidae). Biochemical Pharmacology, 213 115598, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2023.115598
Ahmed, Jamila, Walker, Andrew A., Perdomo, Hugo D., Guo, Shaodong, Nixon, Samantha A., Vetter, Irina, Okoh, Hilary I., Shehu, Dalhatu M., Shuaibu, Mohammed N., Ndams, Iliya S., King, Glenn F. and Herzig, Volker (2023). Two novel mosquitocidal peptides isolated from the venom of the Bahia scarlet tarantula (Lasiodora klugi). Toxins, 15 (7) 418, 1-14. doi: 10.3390/toxins15070418
Robinson, Samuel D., Deuis, Jennifer R., Touchard, Axel, Keramidas, Angelo, Mueller, Alexander, Schroeder, Christina I., Barassé, Valentine, Walker, Andrew A., Brinkwirth, Nina, Jami, Sina, Bonnafé, Elsa, Treilhou, Michel, Undheim, Eivind A. B., Schmidt, Justin O., King, Glenn F. and Vetter, Irina (2023). Ant venoms contain vertebrate-selective pain-causing sodium channel toxins. Nature Communications, 14 (1) 2977, 1-11. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38839-1
Qu, Yuli, Walker, Andrew A., Meng, Ling, Herzig, Volker and Li, Baoping (2023). The predatory stink bug Arma custos (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) produces a complex proteinaceous venom to overcome caterpillar prey. Biology, 12 (5) 691. doi: 10.3390/biology12050691
Cardoso, F. C., Walker, A. A., King, G. F. and Gomez, M. V. (2023). Holistic profiling of the venom from the Brazilian wandering spider Phoneutria nigriventer by combining high-throughput ion channel screens with venomics. Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences, 10 1069764, 1069764. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2023.1069764
Robinson, Samuel D., Schendel, Vanessa, Schroeder, Christina I., Moen, Sarah, Mueller, Alexander, Walker, Andrew A., McKinnon, Naomi, Neely, G. Gregory, Vetter, Irina, King, Glenn F. and Undheim, Eivind A. B. (2023). Intra-colony venom diversity contributes to maintaining eusociality in a cooperatively breeding ant. BMC Biology, 21 (1) 5, 5. doi: 10.1186/s12915-022-01507-9
Michálek, Ondřej, Walker, Andrew A., Šedo, Ondrej, Zdráhal, Zbyněk, King, Glenn F. and Pekár, Stano (2022). Composition and toxicity of venom produced by araneophagous white-tailed spiders (Lamponidae: Lampona sp.). Scientific Reports, 12 (1) 21597, 1-13. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-24694-5
Shi, Naiqi, Szanto, Tibor G., He, Jia, Schroeder, Christina I., Walker, Andrew A., Deuis, Jennifer R., Vetter, Irina, Panyi, György, King, Glenn F. and Robinson, Samuel D. (2022). Venom composition and pain-causing toxins of the Australian great carpenter bee Xylocopa aruana. Scientific Reports, 12 (1) 22168, 1-13. doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-26867-8
Youngman, Nicholas J., Llinas, Joshua, Haworth, Mark, Gillett, Amber, Jones, Lee, Walker, Andrew A. and Fry, Bryan G. (2022). Untangling interactions between Bitis vipers and their prey using coagulotoxicity against diverse vertebrate plasmas. Toxicon, 216, 37-44. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2022.06.012
Pinto, Ciro P.G., Walker, Andrew A., Robinson, Samuel D., King, Glenn F. and Rossi, Guilherme D. (2022). Proteotranscriptomics reveals the secretory dynamics of teratocytes, regulators of parasitization by an endoparasitoid wasp. Journal of Insect Physiology, 139 104395, 104395. doi: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2022.104395
Pinto, Ciro P.G., Walker, Andrew A., Robinson, Samuel D., Chin, Yanni K.-Y, King, Glenn F. and Rossi, Guilherme D. (2021). Venom composition of the endoparasitoid wasp Cotesia flavipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and functional characterization of a major venom peptide. Toxicon, 202, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2021.09.002
Nixon, Samantha A., Robinson, Samuel D., Agwa, Akello J., Walker, Andrew A., Choudhary, Shivani, Touchard, Axel, Undheim, Eivind A.B., Robertson, Alan, Vetter, Irina, Schroeder, Christina I., Kotze, Andrew C., Herzig, Volker and King, Glenn F. (2021). Multipurpose peptides: the venoms of Amazonian stinging ants contain anthelmintic ponericins with diverse predatory and defensive activities. Biochemical Pharmacology, 192 114693, 114693. doi: 10.1016/j.bcp.2021.114693
Robinson, Samuel D., Kambanis, Lucas, Clayton, Daniel, Hinneburg, Hannes, Corcilius, Leo, Mueller, Alexander, Walker, Andrew A., Keramidas, Angelo, Kulkarni, Sameer S., Jones, Alun, Vetter, Irina, Thaysen-Andersen, Morten, Payne, Richard J., King, Glenn F. and Undheim, Eivind A.B. (2021). A pain-causing and paralytic ant venom glycopeptide. iScience, 24 (10) 103175, 1-21. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103175
Jensen, Timo, Walker, Andrew A., Nguyen, Son H., Jin, Ai-Hua, Deuis, Jennifer R., Vetter, Irina, King, Glenn F., Schmidt, Justin O. and Robinson, Samuel D. (2021). Venom chemistry underlying the painful stings of velvet ants (Hymenoptera: Mutillidae). Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 78 (12), 5163-5177. doi: 10.1007/s00018-021-03847-1
Walker, Andrew A., Robinson, Samuel D., Paluzzi, Jean-Paul V., Merritt, David J., Nixon, Samantha A., Schroeder, Christina I., Jin, Jiayi, Goudarzi, Mohaddeseh Hedayati, Kotze, Andrew C., Dekan, Zoltan, Sombke, Andy, Alewood, Paul F., Fry, Bryan G., Epstein, Marc E., Vetter, Irina and King, Glenn F. (2021). Production, composition, and mode of action of the painful defensive venom produced by a limacodid caterpillar, Doratifera vulnerans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 118 (18) 2023815118, e2023815118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2023815118
Wait, Laura C., Walker, Andrew A. and King, Glenn F. (2020). Crouching tiger, hidden protein: searching for insecticidal toxins in venom of the red tiger assassin bug (Havinthus rufovarius). Toxins, 13 (1) 3, 3. doi: 10.3390/toxins13010003
Peschel, Alicia, Cardoso, Fernanda C., Walker, Andrew A., Durek, Thomas, Stone, M Rhia L., Braga Emidio, Nayara, Dawson, Philip E., Muttenthaler, Markus and King, Glenn F. (2020). Two for the price of one: heterobivalent ligand design targeting two binding sites on voltage-gated sodium channels slows ligand dissociation and enhances otency. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 63 (21), 12773-12785. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.0c01107
Youngman, Nicholas J., Walker, Andrew, Naude, Arno, Coster, Kristian, Sundman, Eric and Fry, Bryan G. (2020). Varespladib (LY315920) neutralises phospholipase A2 mediated prothrombinase-inhibition induced by Bitis snake venoms. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part - C: Toxicology and Pharmacology, 236 108818, 108818. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpc.2020.108818
Walker, Andrew A., Robinson, Samuel D., Hamilton, Brett F., Undheim, Eivind A. B. and King, Glenn F. (2020). Deadly proteomes: a practical guide to proteotranscriptomics of animal venoms. Proteomics, 20 (17-18) 1900324, e1900324. doi: 10.1002/pmic.201900324
Walker, Andrew A. (2020). The evolutionary dynamics of venom toxins made by insects and other animals. Biochemical Society Transactions, 48 (4), 1353-1365. doi: 10.1042/bst20190820
Jin, Jiayi, Agwa, Akello J., Szanto, Tibor G., Csóti, Agota, Panyi, Gyorgy, Schroeder, Christina I., Walker, Andrew A. and King, Glenn F. (2020). Weaponisation ‘on the fly’: convergent recruitment of knottin and defensin peptide scaffolds into the venom of predatory assassin flies. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 118 103310, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2019.103310
Chow, Chun Yuen, Chin, Yanni K.-Y., Walker, Andrew A., Guo, Shaodong, Blomster, Linda V., Ward, Micaiah J., Herzig, Volker, Rokyta, Darin R. and King, Glenn F. (2019). Venom peptides with dual modulatory activity on the voltage-gated sodium channel NaV1.1 provide novel leads for development of antiepileptic drugs. ACS Pharmacology & Translational Science, 3 (1) acsptsci.9b00079, 119-134. doi: 10.1021/acsptsci.9b00079
Walker, Andrew A., Robinson, Samuel D., Undheim, Eivind A. B., Jin, Jiayi, Han, Xiao, Fry, Bryan G., Vetter, Irina and King, Glenn F. (2019). Missiles of mass disruption: Composition and glandular origin of venom used as a projectile defensive weapon by the assassin bug Platymeris rhadamanthus. Toxins, 11 (11) 673, 673. doi: 10.3390/toxins11110673
Walker, Andrew, Dobson, James, Jin, Jiayi, Robinson, Samuel, Herzig, Volker, Vetter, Irina, King, Glenn and Fry, Bryan (2018). Buzz kill: Function and proteomic composition of venom from the Giant Assassin Fly Dolopus genitalis (Diptera: Asilidae). Toxins, 10 (11) 456, 456. doi: 10.3390/toxins10110456
Walker, Andrew A., Robinson, Samuel D., Yeates, David K., Jin, Jiayi, Baumann, Kate, Dobson, James, Fry, Bryan G. and King, Glenn F. (2018). Entomo-venomics: the evolution, biology and biochemistry of insect venoms. Toxicon: official journal of the International Society on Toxinology, 154, 15-27. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2018.09.004
Walker, Andrew Allan, Rosenthal, Max, Undheim, Eivind E. A. and King, Glenn F (2018). Harvesting venom toxins from assassin bugs and other heteropteran insects. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2018 (134) e57729. doi: 10.3791/57729
Walker, Andrew A., Mayhew, Mark L., Jin, Jiayi, Herzig, Volker, Undheim, Eivind A. B., Sombke, Andy, Fry, Bryan G., Meritt, David J. and King, Glenn F. (2018). The assassin bug Pristhesancus plagipennis produces two distinct venoms in separate gland lumens. Nature Communications, 9 (1) 755, 755. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03091-5
Walker, Andrew A., Hernández-Vargas, Maria José, Corzo, Gerardo, Fry, Bryan G. and King, Glenn F. (2018). Giant fish-killing water bug reveals ancient and dynamic venom evolution in Heteroptera. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 75 (17), 1-15. doi: 10.1007/s00018-018-2768-1
Walker, Andrew A. , Madio, Bruno, Jin, Jiayi, Undheim, Eivind A. B. , Fry, Bryan G. and King, Glenn F. (2017). Melt with this kiss: paralyzing and liquefying venom of the assassin bug Pristhesancus plagipennis (Hemiptera: Reduviidae). Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, 16 (4), 552-566. doi: 10.1074/mcp.M116.063321
Walker, Andrew A., Weirauch, Christiane, Fry, Bryan G. and King, Glenn F. (2016). Venoms of heteropteran insects: a treasure trove of diverse pharmacological toolkits. Toxins, 8 (2) 43, 43. doi: 10.3390/toxins8020043
Walker, Andrew A., Weisman, Sarah, Trueman, Holly E., Merritt, David J. and Sutherland, Tara D. (2015). The other prey-capture silk: fibres made by glow-worms (Diptera: Keroplatidae) comprise cross-β-sheet crystallites in an abundant amorphous fraction. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part B: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 187, 78-84. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpb.2015.05.008
Walker, Andrew A., Holland, Chris and Sutherland, Tara D. (2015). More than one way to spin a crystallite: multiple trajectories through liquid crystallinity to solid silk. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282 (1809) 20150259, 1-9. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2015.0259
Church, Jeffrey S., Woodhead, Andrea L., Walker, Andrew A. and Sutherland, Tara D. (2014). A comparison of convergently evolved insect silks that share β-sheet molecular structure. Biopolymers, 101 (6), 630-639. doi: 10.1002/bip.22431
Sutherland, Tara D., Trueman, Holly E., Walker, Andrew A., Weisman, Sarah, Campbell, Peter M., Dong, Zhaoming, Huson, Mickey G., Woodhead, Andrea L. and Church, Jeffrey S. (2014). Convergently-evolved structural anomalies in the coiled coil domains of insect silk proteins. Journal of Structural Biology, 186 (3), 402-411. doi: 10.1016/j.jsb.2014.01.002
Walker, Andrew A., Warden, Andrew C., Trueman, Holly E., Weisman, Sarah and Sutherland, Tara D. (2013). Micellar refolding of coiled-coil honeybee silk proteins. Journal of Materials Chemistry B, 1 (30), 3644-3651. doi: 10.1039/c3tb20611d
Walker, Andrew A., Church, Jeffrey S., Woodhead, Andrea L. and Sutherland, Tara D. (2013). Silverfish silk is formed by entanglement of randomly coiled protein chains. Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 43 (7), 572-579. doi: 10.1016/j.ibmb.2013.03.014
Sutherland, Tara D., Peng, Yong Y., Trueman, Holly E., Weisman, Sarah, Okada, Shoko, Walker, Andrew A., Sriskantha, Alagacone, White, Jacinta F., Huson, Mickey G., Werkmeister, Jerome A., Glattauer, Veronica, Stoichevska, Violet, Mudie, Stephen T., Haritos, Victoria S. and Ramshaw, John A. M. (2013). A new class of animal collagen masquerading as an insect silk. Scientific Reports, 3 (1) 2864. doi: 10.1038/srep02864
Walker, Andrew A., Weisman, Sarah, Kameda, Tsunenori and Sutherland, Tara D. (2012). Natural templates for coiled-coil biomaterials from praying mantis egg cases. Biomacromolecules, 13 (12), 4264-4272. doi: 10.1021/bm301570v
Walker, Andrew A., Weisman, Sarah, Church, Jeffrey S., Merritt, David J., Mudie, Stephen T. and Sutherland, Tara D. (2012). Silk from crickets: a new twist on spinning. Plos One, 7 (2) e30408, e30408-1-e30408-8. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030408
Sutherland, Tara D., Weisman, Sarah, Walker, Andrew A. and Mudie, Stephen T. (2012). Invited review: The coiled coil silk of bees, ants, and hornets. Biopolymers, 97 (6), 446-454. doi: 10.1002/bip.21702
Mirza, Shamaruh, Walker, Adrew, Chen, Jinglong, Murphy, James M. and Young, Ian G. (2010). The Ig-like domain of human GM-CSF receptor α plays a critical role in cytokine binding and receptor activation. Biochemical Journal, 426 (3), 307-317. doi: 10.1042/BJ20091745
Chen, Jinglong, Olsen, Jane, Ford, Sally, Mirza, Shamaruh, Walker, Andrew, Murphy, Jame M. and Young, Ian G. (2009). A new isoform of interleukin-3 receptor α with novel differentiation activity and high affinity binding mode. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 284 (9), 5763-5773. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M808197200
Conference Paper
Nixon, Samantha, Agwa, Akello, Robinson, Sam, Walker, Andrew, Touchard, Axel, Schroeder, Christina, Vetter, Irina, Kotze, Andrew C., Herzig, Volker and King, Glenn F. (2020). Discovery and characterisation of novel peptides from Amazonian stinging ant venoms with antiparasitic activity. 20th World Congress of the International-Society-on-Toxinology, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 8-13 September 2019. Oxford, United Kingdom: Elsevier.