Venom gland size and venom complexity—essential trophic adaptations of venomous predators: A case study using spiders

Pekár, Stano; Bočánek, Ondřej; Michálek, Ondřej; Petráková, Lenka; Haddad, Charles R.; Šedo, Ondřej; Zdráhal, Zbyněk

doi:10.1111/mec.14859

Cited by 30 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…Venom is an essential adaptive trait of predatory venomous species, such as snakes, snails, centipedes, scorpions and spiders, as it serves primarily to immobilize prey (e.g., Chippaux, Williams, & White, ; Kühn‐Nentwig, Stöcklin, & Nentwig, ; Mebs, ; Pekár, Bočánek, et al., ). As a result, venom is under constant selection, and in arachnids, for example, it has undergone a long evolutionary process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Venom of prey‐specialized spiders is more toxic to their preferred prey: A result of prey‐specific toxins

Pekár

Líznarová

Bočánek

et al. 2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

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In specialized predators, a variety of adaptations have evolved to such a level of specificity that they allow very effective exploitation of focal prey. Venom is an essential adaptive trait of predatory venomous species, such as spiders, yet our knowledge of spider venom is incomplete. In agreement with the prey preference hypothesis, we expected that the venom of spider specialists should be more toxic to focal than to alternative prey, because it is composed of prey-specific toxins. Here we used spiders with three types of trophic specializations: specialists that were ant-eating, termite-eating and spider-eating. We compared the efficacy of prey capture of preferred and alternative prey (measured as paralysis latency) with that of related generalists and profiled the venom of the studied species using proteomic methods. We used 22 spider species: six myrmecophagous, two termitophagous, three araneophagous and 11 euryphagous generalist species belonging to different families. We found that ten of the eleven specialist species induced significantly shorter paralysis latency in preferred prey than in alternative prey. Generalists exhibited either similar efficiency on both prey types or slightly higher efficiency on preferred prey. Multivariate analysis of proteomic profiles (peptides and proteins) revealed significant differences between trophic specializations, particularly in peptides. Specialists appear to have venom composed of unique specific compounds as revealed by the multivariate ordination and indicator analysis. These components are likely prey-specific toxins.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Venom of prey‐specialized spiders is more toxic to their preferred prey: A result of prey‐specific toxins

Pekár

Líznarová

Bočánek

et al. 2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…Mexcala has very potent venom that is more efficient on ants than on termites when compared to a closely related salticid species 32 . Its venom likely possesses specific toxins effective especially on ants 33 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No ontogenetic shift in the realised trophic niche but in Batesian mimicry in an ant-eating spider

Pekár

Dušátková

Haddad

2020

Sci Rep

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In predators an ontogenetic trophic shift includes change from small to large prey of several different taxa. in myrmecophagous predators that are also mimics of ants, the ontogenetic trophic shift should be accompanied by a parallel mimetic change. our aim was to test whether ant-eating jumping spider, Mexcala elegans, is myrmecomorphic throughout their ontogenetic development, and whether there is an ontogenetic shift in realised trophic niche and their mimetic models. We performed field observations on the association of Mexcala with ant species and investigated the natural prey of the ontogenetic classes by means of molecular methods. then we measured the mimetic similarity of ontogenetic morphs to putative mimetic models. We found Mexcala is an inaccurate mimic of ants both in the juvenile and adult stages. During ontogenesis it shifts mimetic models. the mimetic similarity was rather superficial, so an average bird predator should distinguish spiders from ants based on colouration. The realised trophic niche was narrow, composed mainly of ants of different species. There was no significant difference in the prey composition between ontogenetic stages. Females were more stenophagous than juveniles. We conclude that Mexcala is an ant-eating specialist that reduces its prey spectrum and shifts ant models during ontogenesis.

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“…The species hunting without silk is considered more offensive, and its venoms often show higher complexity and potency [65] . Recent study suggested that peptides (2-15 kDa) in spider venoms are mainly responsible for the paralysis efficacy of the venom [66] .…”

Section: Recruitment Evens In Spider Venommentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular diversity and evolutionary trends of cysteine-rich peptides from the venom glands of Chinese spider Heteropoda venatoria

Ding

Chen

Zhang

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background: The huntsman spider ( Heteropoda venatoria Carl Linnaeus, 1767) in family Sparassidae, is highly valued in tropical and subtropical countries because the species capture and feed on cockroaches and other domestic insect pests. Unlike most other species of Araneomorphae, the huntsman spiders do not use webs to capture prey. Their great speed and strong chelicerae (mouthparts) with toxin glands are used to capture the insects.Results: We identified 154 novel putative cysteine-rich peptide toxin precursors by analyzing expressed sequence tags of the spider H. venatoria venom gland. The sequences of cysteine-rich peptide precursor revealed 24 families based on the phylogenetics analyses of signal peptide and cysteine framework in mature region, including 8 families of classic Inhibitory cystine knot toxins, 2 families of novel 6-cys motifs, 13 families of long cysteine-rich peptides with 8, 10 and 12-cys, and one family of 2-cys peptides. Intriguingly, four kinds of motifs are first described in spider venom. Furthermore, combining the diverse cysteine-rich peptide sequences of H. venatoria with the sequences from represent spiders explored previously, the dynamic evolutionary trends of venom cysteine-rich peptides were investigated based on the analysis of the structures of precursors and the patterns of cysteine scaffolds in the phylogenetic framework.Conclusion: H. venatoria is an appropriate intermediate species for the evolutionary analysis of spider peptide toxins from Mygalomorphae to Araneomorphae with a holistic view. This work revealed the dynamic evolutionary trends of venom cysteine-rich peptides of spider: the mature peptides have been developed longer with more cysteines; and the propeptides between the signal and mature peptides have been diminished and even vanished. With respect to potential insecticidal applications, the work provides promising new templates and gene clones for further exploration.

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Venom gland size and venom complexity—essential trophic adaptations of venomous predators: A case study using spiders

Cited by 30 publications

References 78 publications

Venom of prey‐specialized spiders is more toxic to their preferred prey: A result of prey‐specific toxins

Venom of prey‐specialized spiders is more toxic to their preferred prey: A result of prey‐specific toxins

No ontogenetic shift in the realised trophic niche but in Batesian mimicry in an ant-eating spider

Molecular diversity and evolutionary trends of cysteine-rich peptides from the venom glands of Chinese spider Heteropoda venatoria

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