Arachnids, particularly spiders, flourish in abundance within most ecosystems (Blamires et al., 2007; Oxbrough and Ziesche, 2013; Henneken et al., 2022; Agnarsson, 2023; Fonseca-Ferreira et al., 2023). Arachnids such as spiders, scorpions and mites create and/or secrete a range of biomaterials, including silks, glues, adhesives, nano-fibres, venoms and other toxins, and chitin associated molecules used to form sensory systems, armour, body colouration/luminescence, and locomotion (Kuntner, 2022). Studies focusing on the evolutionary and ecological aspects of these kinds of arachnid secretory products have established that extended phenotypic features enable arachnids their immense niche flexibility (Agnarsson et al., 2010; Blamires et al., 2012a; Blamires and Tso, 2013; Blamires et al., 2017a; Blamires et al., 2017b; Lacava et al., 2018; Viera et al., 2019; Henneken et al., 2022; Kuntner, 2022). Nonetheless, the genetic features and the expression patterns implicit in facilitating this flexibility remain largely unexplored.
Blamires, S. J. (2024). Grand challenges in arachnid genetics and biomaterials. Frontiers in Arachnid Science, 3, 1356170. https://doi.org/10.3389/frchs.2024.1356170