Transcriptome Sequencing Revealed Differences in Gene Expression Between Male and Female Venom Glands of Wolf Spider (Lycosa sp.)

Spider venom contains a large number of bioactive substances, which have broad application prospects in biological medicine, novel pesticide development and other fields. The purpose of this study was to analyze the gender differences in the expression of the venom gland of spiders and to provide a theoretical basis for the classified utilization of spider venom. In this study, high-throughput sequencing technology was used to sequence the venom gland transcriptome of male and female spiders. 44 394 136 original reads were generated in female individuals, 40 502 072 original reads were obtained in male individuals, and 78 451 unigenes were assembled by De novo. The bioinformatics method was used to analyze the data, and a total of 11 related species were compared, 6 of which are spider species, and all belong to the Araneomorphae. A total of 403 differential unigenes were identified in the venom glands of both sexes. Compared with males, there were 78 up-regulated genes and 325 down-regulated genes. GO enrichment showed that up-regulated genes were mainly associated with toxin activity, defense response, cytotoxicity and cytolysis, while down-regulated genes were mainly associated with RNA stability. This study showed some differences in venom gland expression between males and females, and we hypothesized that females may be more aggressive or toxic. In addition, this study provides the preliminary data for the further study of tarantula venom and the original data for the study of the evolution of spider venom.