Eyeless cave-dwelling <i>Leptonetela</i> spiders still rely on light.

ABSTRACT: Subterranean animals living in perpetual darkness may maintain photoresponse. However, the evolutionary processes behind the conflict between eye loss and maintenance of the photoresponse remain largely unknown. We used Leptonetela spiders to investigate the driving forces behind the maintenance of the photoresponse in cave-dwelling spiders. Our behavioral experiments showed that all eyeless/reduced-eyed cave-dwelling species retained photophobic response and that they had substantially decreased survival at cave entrances due to weak drought resistance. The transcriptomic analysis demonstrated that nearly all phototransduction pathway genes were present and that all tested phototransduction pathway genes were subjected to strong functional constraints in cave-dwelling species. Our

SUBMITTER: Wang K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10732526 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature