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.

蜘蛛毒液含有大量生物活性物质，在生物医药、新型农药研发等领域拥有广阔的应用前景。本研究旨在分析蜘蛛毒液腺的性别表达差异，为蜘蛛毒液的分类化利用提供理论依据。本研究采用高通量测序技术对雌雄蜘蛛的毒液腺转录组进行测序：雌性个体共生成44394136条原始读段（raw reads），雄性个体获得40502072条原始读段，通过De novo组装得到78451条单基因簇（unigene）。本研究采用生物信息学方法对数据进行分析，共比对了11个相关物种，其中6个为蜘蛛物种，均隶属于新蛛亚目（Araneomorphae）。在雌雄蜘蛛的毒液腺中共鉴定出403个差异表达单基因簇：与雄性个体相比，雌性个体中有78个基因上调表达、325个基因下调表达。GO富集分析结果显示，上调表达基因主要与毒素活性、防御反应、细胞毒性及细胞溶解相关，而下调表达基因主要与RNA稳定性相关。本研究揭示了雌雄蜘蛛毒液腺表达模式的部分差异，据此我们推测雌性蜘蛛可能具有更强的攻击性或毒性。此外，本研究为捕鸟蛛（tarantula）毒液的后续研究提供了基础数据，同时也为蜘蛛毒液演化的相关研究提供了原始数据。