Fig 1.
A catalog of spidroin genes identified in Caerostris darwini.
Circular symbols denote the silk class of each spidroin, determined by alignment of N and C-terminal domains and motifs to previously known spidroin sequences. Genic structures are drawn to scale. Scaffold identifiers for the locations of the genes are provided in parentheticals, or embedded in the name (for Spidroin-like sequences). AcSp: Aciniform, AgSp: aggregate; FLAG: flagelliform; MaSp: major ampullate; MiSp: minor ampullate; PySp: pyriform; TuSp: Tubuliform; SpL: Spidroin-like.
Table 1.
Summary statistics for the C. darwini genome and transcriptome assemblies.
Table 2.
Spidroin repeat motif summary for C. darwini and motif sharing with T. clavipes.
Fig 2.
Most frequent coding repeat sequence motifs found only in Caerostris darwini or shared with Trichonephila clavipes.
Top 15 most frequently observed motifs that were exclusive to C. darwini (upper frame) or shared with T. clavipes (lower frame). For motifs found in spidroin-like genes or atypical spidroin genes, a brief label for the name of the gene is provided (e.g., 81.2, 133.2, and 5803). The single example where motif usage was shared but utilized in different spidroin classes is shaded.
Fig 3.
Results of qPCR Expression profiling of all spidroins across silk glands in female and male specimens.
Relative transcript abundance of spidroin targets plus controls across silk gland samples, normalized to leg tissue samples and calculated using the 2-ΔΔCT method (Methods). Results reported are specifically for (A) major ampullate and (B) flagelliform glands in females, as well as (C) all silk glands in males.