The uloboridae spider has not lost its toxicity, but it has not lost its toxicity

background

One of nature’s most powerful secretions, Venom has played an important role in the evolutionary success of many animal groups, including spiders. However, unlike the poisonous Smom, the spider of Uroboridae appears to be seizing the poison and capturing its prey by regurgitating the digested liquid throughout the prey package due to the extensive silk-wrapping and refluxing of the poison aspirate. A general hypothesis assumes that toxins may have been reassigned from toxins to alternative secretions such as silk and digestive fluids. However, whether uroboride retains toxic toxins and the underlying mechanisms of prey immobilization remain unresolved. Here, we adopted an interdisciplinary approach to assess the absence of venom glands. uloborus plumipestoxin gene expression and toxicity of digested proteins.

result

Our findings confirm it U. Plumipes Although there is no venom device, neurotoxin-like transcripts were highly expressed in the digestive system. Midgut extract had toxic levels comparable to the toxic extract Parasteatoda tepidariorum. However, no inhibitory effects on sodium or potassium channels were observed, indicating different toxicity mechanisms.

Peng, X., Dersch, L., Dresler, J. et al. Beyond the Poison Fang: Spiders of the Myoboridae family have lost their poison, not toxic. BMC Biol twenty three159 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/S12915-025-02248-1