The chromosome-level genome of Mesobuthus martensii provides insights into its evolution and the diversity of venom peptides

Posted by
  The chromosome-level genome of Mesobuthus martensii provides insights into its evolution and the diversity of venom peptides Abstract Mesobuthus martensii , the source species of the traditional Chinese medicine “Quanxie”, has long been utilized for its therapeutic properties. Venom peptides are recognized as the major active molecular basis of these pharmacological activities. Despite this, their development as therapeutic agents remains poorly explored. In this study, we performed an integrated multi-omics investigation to systematically explore the venom peptides of Mesobuthus martensii . We generated a chromosome-level genome assembly of Mesobuthus martensii using third-generation sequencing technologies, yielding a genome size of 1.08 Gb with a contig N50 of 46.46 Mb. Integrated genomic and transcriptomic analyses led to the identification of 51 putative novel venom peptide candidates. From the broader venom peptide set, five lysine- and arginine-rich candidates were select...

Sex-specific but not urbanisation-related behavioural differences in a wolf spider, Pardosa alacris

Posted by

 

Source of the photo: 
http://wiki.spinnen-forum.de/index.php?title=Pardosa_alacris

Sex-specific but not urbanisation-related behavioural differences in a wolf spider, Pardosa alacris

Abstract

Urbanisation, one of the main driving forces of the decline in arthropod diversity, is a global environmental problem. Urbanisation causes changes to the size, connectivity, structure, and environmental parameters of their natural habitat. Due to a host of novel conditions and situations, high exploratory and risk-taking behaviours are beneficial traits to cope with urban environments. Therefore, we hypothesised that urban spiders should display more exploratory and risk-taking behaviour than their rural conspecifics. We tested 253 individuals of a widespread, forest-associated ground-dwelling wolf spider species, Pardosa alacris, sampled from rural and urban forest sites during their peak activity period, for their locomotory activity, exploratory and risk-taking behaviour by six frequently used behavioural measures. Combining the studied behavioural measures into composite scores using redundancy analysis, we identified two composite variables, the activity-exploration-boldness and the risk-taking behavioural ones. Behaviour measured by the composite activity-exploration-boldness score was significantly repeatable, but not the composite risk-taking behavioural one. There were no urbanisation-related differences in the composite behavioural scores, suggesting that higher exploratory or risk-taking behaviour may not yield fitness benefits in this generalist predator. We found, however, significant sex-specific differences in the composite activity-exploration-boldness behavioural scores. The higher activity, exploratory and boldness in males than females may be explained by their different life-history strategies and sex-specific selective pressures.

Magura, T., Horváth, R., Mizser, S., Tóth, M., Kozma, F. S., & Lövei, G. L. (2026). Sex-specific but not urbanisation-related behavioural differences in a wolf spider, Pardosa alacris. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-41239-2