The solute carrier (SLC) transporter superfamily comprises an ancient and ubiquitous group of proteins capable of translocating a range of nutrients, endogenous molecules, and xenobiotics. Although the group has been the subject of intense investigation in both bacteria and mammals, its systematic identification in arthropods has not yet been undertaken. Here, we present a genome-wide identification of all 66 human SLC families in 174 arthropod species. A pipeline (SLC_id) was constructed to identify and group SLCs using a combination of hidden Markov model and BLAST searches followed by filtering based on polypeptide length and the number of transmembrane domains. Comparative analysis of the number of transporters in each family across diverse arthropod lineages was accomplished using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Computational Analysis of gene Family Evolution (CAFE). These results suggested that many SLC families have undergone expansions or contractions in particular evolutionary lineages. Notably, the sugar transporting SLC2 family was significantly larger in insects compared with arachnids. This difference may have been complemented by a rapid expansion of the SLC60 family in arachnids which also acts on dietary sugars. Furthermore, the SLC33 family underwent a recent and drastic expansion in aphids, although the biological relevance of this expansion was not possible to infer. Information on specific SLC transporter families across arthropod species can be accessed through an R shiny web application at http://chrysalida.imbb.forth.gr : 3838/Arthropod_SLC_Database/. The present study greatly facilitates further investigation of the diverse group of SLC transporters in arthropods.

中文翻译：

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节肢动物溶质载体超家族的鉴定和进化趋势。

溶质载体 (SLC) 转运蛋白超家族由一组古老且普遍存在的蛋白质组成，能够转运一系列营养物质、内源性分子和外源物质。尽管该类群已成为细菌和哺乳动物中深入研究的对象，但尚未在节肢动物中对其进行系统鉴定。在这里，我们对 174 种节肢动物物种的所有 66 个人类 SLC 家族进行了全基因组鉴定。构建了管道 (SLC_id)，以使用隐马尔可夫模型和 BLAST 搜索的组合来识别和分组 SLC，然后根据多肽长度和跨膜域的数量进行过滤。使用单向方差分析（ANOVA）和基因家族进化计算分析（CAFE）完成了不同节肢动物谱系中每个家族转运蛋白数量的比较分析。这些结果表明，许多 SLC 家族在特定的进化谱系中经历了扩张或收缩。值得注意的是，与蜘蛛纲动物相比，昆虫中的糖转运 SLC2 家族明显更大。这种差异可能因蜘蛛纲动物中 SLC60 家族的快速扩张而得到补充，该家族也对膳食糖起作用。此外，SLC33家族最近在蚜虫中经历了急剧的扩张，尽管无法推断这种扩张的生物学相关性。有关跨节肢动物物种的特定 SLC 转运蛋白家族的信息可以通过 R闪亮网络应用程序访问：http://chrysalida.imbb.forth.gr：3838/Arthropod_SLC_Database/。本研究极大地促进了节肢动物中不同 SLC 转运蛋白群体的进一步研究。