Revealing the
Venomous Secrets of the Spider’s
Web
Posted on 2020-06-30 - 11:42
Orb-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.
CITE THIS COLLECTION
DataCite
3 Biotech
3D Printing in Medicine
3D Research
3D-Printed Materials and Systems
4OR
AAPG Bulletin
AAPS Open
AAPS PharmSciTech
Abhandlungen aus dem Mathematischen Seminar der Universität Hamburg
ABI Technik (German)
Academic Medicine
Academic Pediatrics
Academic Psychiatry
Academic Questions
Academy of Management Discoveries
Academy of Management Journal
Academy of Management Learning and Education
Academy of Management Perspectives
Academy of Management Proceedings
Academy of Management Review
Esteves, Franciele
Grego; dos Santos-Pinto, José Roberto Aparecido; Ferro, Milene; Sialana, Fernando J.; Smidak, Roman; Rares, Lucaciu Calin; et al. (2020). Revealing the
Venomous Secrets of the Spider’s
Web. ACS Publications. Collection. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jproteome.0c00086
or
Select your citation style and then place your mouse over the citation text to select it.
SHARE
Usage metrics
Read the peer-reviewed publication
AUTHORS (12)
FE
Franciele
Grego Esteves
Jd
José Roberto Aparecido dos Santos-Pinto
MF
Milene Ferro
FS
Fernando J. Sialana
RS
Roman Smidak
LR
Lucaciu Calin Rares
TN
Thomas Nussbaumer
TR
Thomas Rattei
MB
Martin Bilban
MB
Mauricio Bacci Júnior
GL
Gert Lubec
MP
Mario Sergio Palma
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