Insulin and its related peptides are found throughout the animal kingdom, in which they serve diverse functions. This includes regulation of glucose homeostasis, neuronal development and cognition. The surprising recent discovery that venomous snails evolved specialized insulins to capture fish demonstrated the nefarious use of this hormone in nature. Because of their streamlined role in predation, these repurposed insulins exhibit unique characteristics that have unraveled new aspects of the chemical ecology and structural biology of this important hormone. Recently, insulins were also reported in other venomous predators and pathogenic viruses, demonstrating the broader use of insulin by one organism to manipulate the physiology of another. In this Review, we provide an overview of the discovery and biomedical application of repurposed insulins and other hormones found in nature and highlight several unique insights gained from these unusual compounds.

胰岛素及其相关肽遍布整个动物界，它们在其中发挥着不同的功能。这包括调节葡萄糖稳态、神经元发育和认知。最近令人惊讶的发现有毒蜗牛进化出专门的胰岛素来捕捉鱼，这表明这种激素在自然界中的邪恶用途。由于它们在捕食中的简化作用，这些重新利用的胰岛素表现出独特的特征，揭示了这种重要激素的化学生态学和结构生物学的新方面。最近，在其他有毒捕食者和致病病毒中也报道了胰岛素，这表明一种生物体更广泛地使用胰岛素来操纵另一种生物体的生理机能。在这篇评论中，