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The black widow spider genus Latrodectus (Araneae: Theridiidae): phylogeny, biogeography, and invasion history.
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Blueprint for a High-Performance Biomaterial: Full-Length Spider Dragline Silk Genes
TLDR
The first full-length spider silk gene sequences and their flanking regions are described and provide complete templates for synthesis of recombinant silk proteins that significantly improve the degree to which artificial silks mimic natural spider dragline fibers.
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Utility of the nuclear protein-coding gene, elongation factor-1 gamma (EF-1gamma), for spider systematics, emphasizing family level relationships of tarantulas and their kin (Araneae: Mygalomorphae).
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The house spider genome reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication during arachnid evolution
TLDR
The results reveal that spiders and scorpions are likely the descendants of a polyploid ancestor that lived more than 450 MYA, and this study of the ancient WGD event in Arachnopulmonata provides a new comparative platform to explore common and divergent evolutionary outcomes ofpolyploidization events across eukaryotes.
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Molecular Evolution of α-Latrotoxin, the Exceptionally Potent Vertebrate Neurotoxin in Black Widow Spider Venom
TLDR
The greater differences between Latrodectus and Steatoda α-latrotoxin, and their relationships to invertebrate-specific latrotoxins, suggest a shift in α-Latrotoxin toward increased vertebrate toxicity coincident with the evolution of widow spiders.
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Modular evolution of egg case silk genes across orb-weaving spider superfamilies.
TLDR
Spider fibroin TuSp1 appears to be the major component of tubuliform gland silk, a fiber exclusively synthesized by female spiders for egg case construction, and repetitive architecture is a general feature of this gene family, consistent with a single origin of this ortholog group.
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Untangling spider silk evolution with spidroin terminal domains
TLDR
A non-repetitive N-terminal domain appears to be a universal attribute of spidroin proteins, likely retained from the origin of spider silk production, and combined analysis produces the most resolved trees.
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Dramatic expansion of the black widow toxin arsenal uncovered by multi-tissue transcriptomics and venom proteomics
TLDR
A black widow venom specific exome is presented that uncovers a trove of diverse toxins and associated proteins, suggesting a dynamic evolutionary history, and justifies a reevaluation of the functional activities ofblack widow venom in light of its emerging complexity.
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Silk Genes Support the Single Origin of Orb Webs
TLDR
It is found that the distribution and phylogeny of silk proteins support a single, ancient origin of the orb web at least 136 million years ago and the repository of silk sequences that can be used for the synthesis of high-performance biomaterials is substantially expanded.
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House spider genome uncovers evolutionary shifts in the diversity and expression of black widow venom proteins associated with extreme toxicity
TLDR
The house spider genome sequence provides novel insights into the evolution of venom toxins once considered unique to black widows, and greatly expand the size of the latrotoxin gene family, reinforce its narrow phylogenetic distribution, and provide additional evidence for the lateral transfer of latrotoxins between spiders and bacterial endosymbionts.
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