Discovering the developmental genetic basis of spinneret morphogenesis

• Grant number: 19/12282-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: November 01, 2019
• End date: October 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Genetics - Animal Genetics
• Principal Investigator: Tatiana Teixeira Torres
• Grantee: Nancy França Lo Man Hung
• Supervisor: Prashant Pradeep Sharma
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 17/19616-2 - Evolution and development of spiders' spinnerets (Arachnida: Araneae), BP.DR

Abstract

One of the main goals of evolutionary developmental biology is to understand the mechanistic relationship between genetic and phenotypic changes. This project will pursue this question by using the spinnerets of spiders as an experimental model. Although there is a remarkable diversity of spinnerets morphology, very little information is available on how spinnerets develop, and the evolutionary history of these organs. The aim of this project is to investigate the involvement of candidate genes in the embryonic development of spinnerets of house spiders using gene silencing by RNAi. Comparison of developmental phenotypes and gene expression will be assessed by gene silencing and in situ hybridization in several embryos of spiders. qPCR will be used to check gene expression in dsRNA-injected embryos and negative control embryos and geometric morphometry will be used to test different developmental hypotheses.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MARIANO-MARTINS, PEDRO; LO-MAN-HUNG, NANCY; TORRES, TATIANA TEIXEIRA. Evolution of Spiders and Silk Spinning: Mini Review of the Morphology, Evolution, and Development of Spiders' Spinnerets. FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, v. 8, MAY 22 2020. (17/19616-2, 18/06719-0, 19/12282-7)

MARIANO-MARTINS, PEDRO; MONFARDINI, RAQUEL DIETSCHE; LO-MAN-HUNG, NANCY; TORRES, TATIANA TEIXEIRA. Evidence of positive selection on six spider developmental genes. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL ZOOLOGY PART B-MOLECULAR AND DEVELOPMENTAL EVOLUTION, JAN 2022. (18/06719-0, 19/12282-7, 17/19616-2)