Evolutionary shifts in gene expression decoupled from gene duplication across functionally distinct spider silk glands

Spider silk synthesis is an emerging model for the evolution of tissue-specific gene expression and the role of gene duplication in functional novelty, but its potential has not been fully realized. Accordingly, we quantified transcript (mRNA) abundance in seven silk gland types and three non-silk g...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2017-08, Vol.7 (1), p.8393-13, Article 8393
Main Authors: Clarke, Thomas H., Garb, Jessica E., Haney, Robert A., Chaw, R. Crystal, Hayashi, Cheryl Y., Ayoub, Nadia A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
38
38/91
631/114/2184
631/181/735
631/208/199
631/337/2019
631/601/1737
Animals
Biomaterials
Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Exocrine Glands
Gene Duplication
Gene Expression
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene families
Homology
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Phylogeny
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Silk
Silk - biosynthesis
Silk gland
Specialization
Spiders
Spiders - genetics
Theridiidae
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Summary:Spider silk synthesis is an emerging model for the evolution of tissue-specific gene expression and the role of gene duplication in functional novelty, but its potential has not been fully realized. Accordingly, we quantified transcript (mRNA) abundance in seven silk gland types and three non-silk gland tissues for three cobweb-weaving spider species. Evolutionary analyses based on expression levels of thousands of homologous transcripts and phylogenetic reconstruction of 605 gene families demonstrated conservation of expression for each gland type among species. Despite serial homology of all silk glands, the expression profiles of the glue-forming aggregate glands were divergent from fiber-forming glands. Also surprising was our finding that shifts in gene expression among silk gland types were not necessarily coupled with gene duplication, even though silk-specific genes belong to multi-paralog gene families. Our results challenge widely accepted models of tissue specialization and significantly advance efforts to replicate silk-based high-performance biomaterials.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-07388-1