pr0c00086_si_002.xls (3.16 MB)
Revealing the Venomous Secrets of the Spider’s Web
dataset
posted on 2020-06-30, 11:42 authored by Franciele
Grego Esteves, José Roberto Aparecido dos Santos-Pinto, Milene Ferro, Fernando J. Sialana, Roman Smidak, Lucaciu Calin Rares, Thomas Nussbaumer, Thomas Rattei, Martin Bilban, Mauricio Bacci Júnior, Gert Lubec, Mario Sergio PalmaOrb-weaving
spiders use a highly strong, sticky and elastic web
to catch their prey. These web properties alone would be enough for
the entrapment of prey; however, these spiders may be hiding venomous
secrets in the web, which current research is revealing. Here, we
provide strong proteotranscriptomic evidence for the presence of toxin/neurotoxin-like
proteins, defensins, and proteolytic enzymes on the web silk from Nephila clavipes spider. The results from quantitative-based
transcriptomic and proteomic approaches showed that silk-producing
glands produce an extensive repertoire of toxin/neurotoxin-like proteins,
similar to those already reported in spider venoms. Meanwhile, the
insect toxicity results demonstrated that these toxic components can
be lethal and/or paralytic chemical weapons used for prey capture
on the web, and the presence of fatty acids in the web may be a responsible
mechanism opening the way to the web toxins for accessing the interior
of prey’s body, as shown here. Comparative phylogenomic-level
evolutionary analyses revealed orthologous genes among two spider
groups, Araneomorphae and Mygalomorphae, and the findings showed protein
sequences similar to toxins found in the taxa Scorpiones and Hymenoptera
in addition to Araneae. Overall, these data represent a valuable resource
to further investigate other spider web toxin systems and also suggest
that N. clavipes web is not a passive
mechanical trap for prey capture, but it exerts an active role in
prey paralysis/killing using a series of neurotoxins.
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Keywords
web propertiesVenomous Secretsspider venomsproteotranscriptomic evidencespider web toxin systemsproteomic approachesinsect toxicity resultsclavipes webweb toxinssilk-producing glandsquantitative-based transcriptomicorthologous genespreyweb silkmechanism openingspider groupsprotein sequencesNephila clavipes spidertaxa ScorpionesComparative phylogenomic-level
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