The Role of the Southeastern European Mountains as Cradles and Corridors of European Biodiversity: Insights From Agelenid Spiders

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  The Role of the Southeastern European Mountains as Cradles and Corridors of European Biodiversity: Insights From Agelenid Spiders ABSTRACT Aim The Southeastern European Mountain System (SEEMS) is a well-known glacial refugium for European fauna. Bridging the Mediterranean and Caucasus biodiversity hotspots, it is a melting point for diverse faunal elements, but also a center of origin and subsequent dispersal of a unique component of European biodiversity. Here, we tested the hypothesis of the Southeastern European origin of the agelenid spider genera Inermocoelotes and Urocoras by investigating their phylogeny and biogeography. Location Southeastern Europe (the Balkans, Carpathians, Dinarides), Central/Western Europe, and the Mediterranean basin. Taxon Funnel-web spiders, the genera Inermocoelotes and Urocoras (Araneae: Agelenidae: Coelotinae). Methods We performed molecular phylogenetic analyses, divergence time estimation, and ancestral area reconstruction. To investigate ...

Transcriptomic and Proteomic Study on Animal Venom: Looking Forward

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Image Credit: Luis A. Roque, Arácnido Taxonomy

Transcriptomic and Proteomic Study on Animal Venom: Looking Forward

Transcriptomic and proteomic studies concerning venom and venom glands have provided major breakthroughs in the characterization and knowledge of global crude venom compositions and have also allowed for the identification of new toxins and activities. Venom gland transcriptomes (mRNA) and proteomes (proteins) share a high degree of concordance regarding the major toxins produced, meaning the most heavily transcribed genes in the gland generally correspond to the most abundant proteins in the venom. These approaches are based heavily on specific techniques that allow for in-depth characterization and knowledge of global crude venom compositions like DNA sequencing and mass spectrometry, respectively. However, the transcriptome–proteome relationship is not perfectly linear, with studies often showing that venom gland transcriptomes contain a larger, more diverse array of “potential” toxin transcripts, while the proteome reflects only the “actual” translated products identified [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9].
Ho, P. L. (2026). Transcriptomic and Proteomic Study on Animal Venom: Looking Forward. Toxins, 18(5). https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins18050213