ArticleBMC evolutionary biology2020
Spider phylosymbiosis: divergence of widow spider species and their tissues' microbiomes.
Article in BMC evolutionary biology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Taxonomy, tissue, and habitat influence mollusk microbial communities.The ISME journal · 2026Pooled it
- Microbiota discovered in scorpion venom.PloS one · 2026Article
- A review of the venom microbiome and its utility in ecology and evolution including future directions for emerging research.Symbiosis (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Unveiling Diversity and Function: Venom-Associated Microbes in Two Spiders, Heteropoda venatoria and Chilobrachys guangxiensis.Microbial ecology · 2024Article
- Microbiota Associated WithEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- Diversity and Functionality of Bacteria Associated with Different Tissues of Spider Heteropoda venatoria Revealed through Integration of High-Throughput Sequencing and Culturomics Approaches.Microbial ecology · 2024Article
- Endosymbiont diversity across native and invasive brown widow spider populations.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Wolbachia supergroup A in Enoplognatha latimana (Araneae: Theridiidae) in Poland as an example of possible horizontal transfer of bacteria.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Food provisioning to Pardosa spiders decreases the levels of tissue-resident endosymbiotic bacteria.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The influence of species identity and geographic locations on gut microbiota of small rodents.Frontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- Differing Dietary Nutrients and Diet-Associated Bacteria Has Limited Impact on Spider Gut Microbiota Composition.Microorganisms · 2021Article
- Species-specific but not phylosymbiotic gut microbiomes of New Guinean passerine birds are shaped by diet and flight-associated gut modifications.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2021Article
- Genomes of Gut Bacteria frommSystems · 2021Article
- The Phylosymbiosis Pattern Between the Fig Wasps of the Same Genus and Their Associated Microbiota.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMicrobiomes can have profound impacts on host biology and evolution, but to date, remain vastly understudied in spiders despite their unique and diverse predatory adaptations. This study evaluates closely related species of spiders and their host-microbe relationships in the context of phylosymbiosis, an eco-evolutionary pattern where the microbial community profile parallels the phylogeny of closely related host species. Using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, we characterized the microbiomes of five species with known phylogenetic relationships from the family Theridiidae, including multiple closely related widow spiders (L. hesperus, L. mactans, L. geometricus, S. grossa, and P. tepidariorum).
resultsWe compared whole animal and tissue-specific microbiomes (cephalothorax, fat bodies, venom glands, silk glands, and ovary) in the five species to better understand the relationship between spiders and their microbial symbionts. This showed a strong congruence of the microbiome beta-diversity of the whole spiders, cephalothorax, venom glands, and silk glands when compared to their host phylogeny. Our results support phylosymbiosis in these species and across their specialized tissues. The ovary tissue microbial dendrograms also parallel the widow phylogeny, suggesting vertical transfer of species-specific bacterial symbionts. By cross-validating with RNA sequencing data obtained from the venom glands, silk glands and ovaries of L. hesperus, L. geometricus, S. grossa, and P. tepidariorum we confirmed that several microbial symbionts of interest are viably active in the host.
conclusionTogether these results provide evidence that supports the importance of host-microbe interactions and the significant role microbial communities may play in the evolution and adaptation of their hosts.
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