Comparative genomics has begun to elucidate the genomic basis of social life in insects but insight into the genomic basis of spider sociality has lagged behind. To begin to characterize genomic signatures associated with the evolution of social life in spiders, we performed one of the first spider comparative genomics studies including five solitary species and two social species, representing two independent origins of sociality in the genus Stegodyphus. We found that the two social spider species had a large expansion of gene families associated with transport and metabolic processes and an elevated genome-wide rate of molecular evolution compared with the five solitary spider species. Genes that were rapidly evolving in the two social species relative to the five solitary species were enriched for transport, behavior, and immune functions, while genes that were rapidly evolving in the solitary species were enriched for energy metabolism processes. Most rapidly evolving genes in the social species S. dumicola were broadly expressed across four tissues and enriched for transport functions, but 12 rapidly evolving genes showed brain-specific expression and were enriched for social behavioral processes. Altogether, our study identifies putative genomic signatures and potential candidate genes associated with spider sociality. These results indicate that future spider comparative genomic studies, including broader sampling and additional independent origins of sociality, can further clarify the genomic causes and consequences of social life.

中文翻译：

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比较基因组学确定了蜘蛛社会性的假定特征。


比较基因组学已经开始阐明昆虫社会生活的基因组基础，但对蜘蛛社会性基因组基础的深入了解却滞后。为了开始表征与蜘蛛社会生活进化相关的基因组特征，我们进行了第一个蜘蛛比较基因组学研究，包括五个独居物种和两个社会物种，代表了隐蛛属社会性的两个独立起源。我们发现，与五种独居蜘蛛相比，这两种群居蜘蛛的与运输和代谢过程相关的基因家族大幅扩展，并且全基因组分子进化率更高。相对于五个独居物种，两个社会物种中快速进化的基因在运输、行为和免疫功能方面得到富集，而在独居物种中快速进化的基因则在能量代谢过程方面得到富集。社会物种 S. dumicola 中大多数快速进化的基因在四种组织中广泛表达，并在运输功能中富集，但 12 个快速进化的基因显示出大脑特异性表达，并在社会行为过程中富集。总而言之，我们的研究确定了与蜘蛛社会性相关的假定基因组特征和潜在候选基因。这些结果表明，未来的蜘蛛比较基因组研究，包括更广泛的采样和额外的社会性独立起源，可以进一步阐明社会生活的基因组原因和后果。