麻豆淫院

Spiders, their venom and their silk pose many unsolved questions for science. A new study provides clues to better understand these eight-legged creatures.

Bioscientists at Trier University have succeeded in revealing the complete blueprint of three unusual spiders: the yellow sac spider (the only venomous spider in Germany), the feather-legged lace weaver (one of the few spiders without venom glands) and a mesothela (lived before the dinosaurs).

The research results, in Molecular Ecology Resources, could help reveal more about the composition of spider venom or the production of spider silk, for example.

"There are still many unresolved questions about spiders. However, science often pays less attention to spiders than other animals," says Yannis Sch枚neberg. The biogeography researcher at Trier University is fascinated by the eight-legged creatures that many people are afraid of.

"There are more than 52,000 spider species worldwide. But the genome, i.e., the genetic material, is only available for very few of them," says Sch枚neberg. Very fundamental questions, such as which spiders actually belong to a species and how the species has evolved, are still unanswered. The fact that the scientists in Trier have now published the blueprint of the three spiders is the foundation for further research.

Despite the support of a supercomputer and artificial intelligence, decoding the genome was a real puzzle that took the researchers many hours. The genetic material of some spiders is similar in size to that of humans. The individual pieces of DNA had to be organized and the beginning and end of the genes identified.

"As most of the methods used to decode the genes were developed for humans and the spider genome is very large, this was not at all easy," reports Sch枚neberg.

One of the goals is to better understand the evolution of spiders: Why does the body structure of spiders differ so extremely? Why have a few spiders lost their venom glands鈥攂ut most have not? The team came across an interesting mutation in the so-called Hox genes, which are responsible for the categorization of body parts.

However, these new findings are actually a by-product of a larger research project. Biogeography at Trier University is currently working on an innovative method to identify new spider species. So we can look forward to seeing what happens next.