Characterisation of protein families in spider digestive fluids and their role in extra-oral digestion.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Spiders are predaceous arthropods that are capable of subduing and consuming relatively large prey items compared to their own body size. For this purpose, spiders have evolved potent venoms to immobilise prey and digestive fluids that break down nutrients inside the prey's body by means of extra-oral digestion (EOD). Both secretions contain an array of active proteins, and an overlap of some components has been anecdotally reported, but not quantified. We systematically investigated the extent of such protein overlap. As venom injection and EOD succeed each other, we further infer functional explanations, and, by comparing two spider species belonging to different clades, assess its adaptive significance for spider EOD in general.

Results

We describe the protein

SUBMITTER: Walter A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5553785 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature