Toward Spider Glue: Long Read Scaffolding for Extreme Length and Repetitious Silk Family Genes AgSp1 and AgSp2 with Insights into Functional Adaptation

Stellwagen, Sarah D.; Renberg, Rebecca L.

doi:10.1534/g3.119.400065

Cited by 29 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 73 publications

(92 reference statements)

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“…GCA_008297655.1). Spider genomes are considered notoriously difficult to sequence, assemble, and annotate for a number of reasons, including their relatively high repeat content, low guanine cytosine (GC) content, high levels of heterozygosity in the wild [ 27 ], and owing to the fact that they possess some extremely long coding genes in the spidroin gene families [ 28 , 29 , 34 , 35 ]. As a result of these challenges, the completeness of the available spider genomes varies greatly between assemblies ( Supplementary Table S1 ).…”

Section: Data Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chromosome-level reference genome of the European wasp spiderArgiope bruennichi: a resource for studies on range expansion and evolutionary adaptation

et al. 2021

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Background Argiope bruennichi, the European wasp spider, has been investigated intensively as a focal species for studies on sexual selection, chemical communication, and the dynamics of rapid range expansion at a behavioral and genetic level. However, the lack of a reference genome has limited insights into the genetic basis for these phenomena. Therefore, we assembled a high-quality chromosome-level reference genome of the European wasp spider as a tool for more in-depth future studies. Findings We generated, de novo, a 1.67 Gb genome assembly of A. bruennichi using 21.8× Pacific Biosciences sequencing, polished with 19.8× Illumina paired-end sequencing data, and proximity ligation (Hi-C)-based scaffolding. This resulted in an N50 scaffold size of 124 Mb and an N50 contig size of 288 kb. We found 98.4% of the genome to be contained in 13 scaffolds, fitting the expected number of chromosomes (n = 13). Analyses showed the presence of 91.1% of complete arthropod BUSCOs, indicating a high-quality assembly. Conclusions We present the first chromosome-level genome assembly in the order Araneae. With this genomic resource, we open the door for more precise and informative studies on evolution and adaptation not only in A. bruennichi but also in arachnids overall, shedding light on questions such as the genomic architecture of traits, whole-genome duplication, and the genomic mechanisms behind silk and venom evolution.

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Section: Data Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chromosome-level reference genome of the European wasp spiderArgiope bruennichi: a resource for studies on range expansion and evolutionary adaptation

et al. 2021

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“…With the advent of transcriptomes, genomes, and thus full-length transcripts of multiple spidroins (e.g. [12,[38][39][40][41][42]), these types of direct comparisons will become increasingly feasible.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

The common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, maintains silk gene expression on sub-optimal diet

et al. 2020

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Cobweb weaving spiders and their relatives spin multiple task-specific fiber types. The unique material properties of each silk type result from differences in amino acid sequence and structure of their component proteins, primarily spidroins (spider fibrous proteins). Amino acid content and gene expression measurements of spider silks suggest some spiders change expression patterns of individual protein components in response to environmental cues. We quantified mRNA abundance of three spidroin encoding genes involved in prey capture in the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum (Theridiidae), fed different diets. After 10 days of acclimation to the lab on a diet of mealworms, spiders were split into three groups: (1) individuals were immediately dissected, (2) spiders were fed high-energy crickets, or (3) spiders were fed low-energy flies, for 1 month. All spiders gained mass during the acclimation period and cricket-fed spiders continued to gain mass, while fly-fed spiders either maintained or lost mass. Using quantitative PCR, we found no significant differences in the absolute or relative abundance of dragline gene transcripts, major ampullate spidroin 1 (MaSp1) and major ampullate spidroin 2 (MaSp2), among groups. In contrast, prey-wrapping minor ampullate spidroin (MiSp) gene transcripts were significantly less abundant in fly-fed than lab-acclimated spiders. However, when measured relative to Actin, cricket-fed spiders showed the lowest expression of MiSp. Our results suggest that house spiders are able to maintain silk production, even in the face of a low-quality diet.

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“…Prior to our work, candidate aggregate glue droplet proteins had been proposed, but to our knowledge, none had been experimentally validated ( Choresh et al 2009 ; Vasanthavada et al 2012 ; Collin et al 2016 ; Stellwagen and Renberg 2019 ). We have provided experimental validation for proposed candidates, as well as numerous additional protein components of spider’s aggregate glue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Strong candidates for orb-web glue protein components are aggregate spidroin (AgSp) 1 and AgSp2. These two proteins are members of the spidroin (spider fibrous protein) gene family, are expressed in aggregate glands, and have the potential to be glycosylated or phosphorylated ( Choresh et al 2009 ; Collin et al 2016 ; Stellwagen and Renberg 2019 ). However, these proteins have not been experimentally demonstrated to be found in glue droplets of any spider species, and the actual modifications of these proteins are unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protein composition and associated material properties of cobweb spiders’ gumfoot glue droplets

Ayoub

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Clarke

et al. 2021

Integrative and Comparative Biology

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The origin of aggregate silk glands and their production of wet adhesive silks is considered a key innovation of the Araneoidea, a superfamily of spiders that build orb-webs and cobwebs. Orb-web weavers place aggregate glue on an extensible capture spiral, whereas cobweb weavers add it to the ends of strong, stiff fibers, called gumfoot lines. Here we describe the material behavior and quantitative proteomics of the aggregate glues of two cobweb weaving species, the Western black widow, Latrodectus hesperus, and the common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum. For each species respectively, we identified 48 and 33 proteins that were significantly more abundant in the portion of the gumfoot line with glue than in its fibers. These proteins were more highly glycosylated and phosphorylated than proteins found in silk fibers without glue, which likely explains aggregate glue stickiness. Most glue-enriched proteins were of anterior aggregate gland origin, supporting the hypothesis that cobweb weavers’ posterior aggregate glue is specialized for another function. We found that cobweb weaver glue droplets are stiffer and tougher than the adhesive of most orb-web weaving species. Attributes of gumfoot glue protein composition that likely contribute to this stiffness include the presence of multiple protein families with conserved cysteine residues, a bimodal distribution of isoelectric points, and families with conserved functions in protein aggregation, all of which should contribute to cohesive protein-protein interactions. House spider aggregate droplets were more responsive to humidity changes than black widow droplets, which could be mediated by differences in protein sequence, post-translational modifications, the non-protein components of the glue droplets, and/or the larger amount of aqueous material that surrounds the adhesive cores of their glue droplets.

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Toward Spider Glue: Long Read Scaffolding for Extreme Length and Repetitious Silk Family Genes AgSp1 and AgSp2 with Insights into Functional Adaptation

Cited by 29 publications

References 73 publications

Chromosome-level reference genome of the European wasp spiderArgiope bruennichi: a resource for studies on range expansion and evolutionary adaptation

Chromosome-level reference genome of the European wasp spiderArgiope bruennichi: a resource for studies on range expansion and evolutionary adaptation

The common house spider, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, maintains silk gene expression on sub-optimal diet

Protein composition and associated material properties of cobweb spiders’ gumfoot glue droplets

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