Spider phylosymbiosis: divergence of widow spider species and their tissues' microbiomes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Microbiomes can have profound impacts on host biology and evolution, but to date, remain vastly understudied in spiders despite their unique and diverse predatory adaptations. This study evaluates closely related species of spiders and their host-microbe relationships in the context of phylosymbiosis, an eco-evolutionary pattern where the microbial community profile parallels the phylogeny of closely related host species. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we characterized the microbiomes of five species with known phylogenetic relationships from the family Theridiidae, including multiple closely related widow spiders (L. hesperus, L. mactans, L. geometricus, S. grossa, and P. tepidariorum).

Results

We compared whole animal and tissue-specific microbiomes (c

SUBMITTER: Dunaj SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7433143 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature