Sex Role–Dependent Behavioral and Architectural Divergence in a Jumping Spider

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  Sex Role–Dependent Behavioral and Architectural Divergence in a Jumping Spider ABSTRACT Sex differences in behavior and functional traits are often attributed to differences in mating effort intensity, but the role of sex-specific parental demands remains poorly understood. Using the jumping spider Toxeus maxillosus —where males engage in mate searching and courtship without providing parental care, while females provide extended maternal care from egg attendance to offspring maturity (around 3 months)—we conducted an exploratory investigation into whether these distinct selective pressures led to divergence in spatial behaviors and nest architecture. Results revealed that males and females showed equivalent accuracy, latency, and learning-related performance in both a route-planning test under water stress and a color-pattern associative memory task. In contrast, during nest-construction assays, females built complex, multi-entrance structures that closely matched the container'...

Winter-active spiders (Clubiona) have a hyperactive antifreeze protein with a unique beta-solenoid fold

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Winter-active spiders (Clubiona) have a hyperactive antifreeze protein with a unique beta-solenoid fold

Abstract

Spiders are among the most important natural enemies of pests in orchards. Clubiona spp. are active even during winter, when other pest predators are dormant. Such activity is possible because these spiders produce antifreeze proteins (AFPs) that bind to the surface of ice crystals to prevent their growth at subzero temperatures. To investigate their AFPs, we collected Clubiona spiders from a pome fruit orchard in the Czech Republic on subzero days in December and February. The AFPs were isolated through five successive rounds of ice-affinity purification as a family of ~30-kDa isoforms. Tryptic fragments from these AFPs were sequenced using tandem mass spectrometry and corresponding transcripts were obtained from an Illumina metatranscriptome. Homologs were absent from the GenBank protein database. Protein modelling with AlphaFold2 shows that these spider AFPs form a previously unseen β-solenoid with a flat surface populated by arrays of threonine (Thr) residues. Although these features are like those of the β-solenoid AFPs from beetles and moths, the proteins are not homologous. This is a remarkable example of convergent evolution of proteins at both the structural and sequence levels for the task of binding ice.

Graham, L. A., Pekár, S., Hainer, I. M., & Davies, P. L. Winter-active spiders (Clubiona) have a hyperactive antifreeze protein with a unique beta-solenoid fold. The FEBS Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.70323