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Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleBackground Animal venoms compose a complex mixture of ions, small organic molecules, peptides and proteins, which evolved through millions of years of natural selection aiming at prey capture and defense mechanisms. A sig-nificant part of this rich mixture is composed of bio-active peptides. Due to their remarkable structural and functional variety, these bioactive peptides offer almost limitless possibilities for the development of new thera-peutic agents [1,2]. Arachnid species including scorpions and spiders are of great interest for bioactive peptide research since the complex venom of these animals contain many peptide toxins [3]. Scorpion venoms are composed of inorganic salts, free amino acids, nucleotides, biogenic amines, peptides and proteins [4]. Peptide neurotoxins form most of their venom that may contain more than a hun-dred peptides [5]. So far, more than 600 scorpion pep