Collaborative Research: Integrating Molecular and Material Evolution of Spider Aqueous Glues

合作研究：蜘蛛水胶的分子和材料进化的整合

基本信息

批准号：
1754979
负责人：
Cheryl Hayashi
金额：
$ 35.94万
依托单位：
American Museum Natural History
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Continuing Grant
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2018-08-15 至 2023-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1754979&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
Collaborative Research Integrating Molecular Material

项目摘要

The spectacular diversity of spiders and their role as key predators across the globe can largely be attributed to their innovative uses of silk. For instance, a golden orb-web spider or a black widow can spin six different types of dry fibers and a wet adhesive silk. The wet adhesive silks made by these spiders and their relatives (the megadiverse superfamily Araneoidea) afford them greater prey retention for a lower material cost than the dry prey capture silk spun by other spider groups. Furthermore, these silk glues achieve adhesiveness in a wide variety of environments, including extreme humidity conditions that challenge commercial glues. A multidisciplinary team from three institutions will investigate how variation in adhesive protein components relates to variation in the glue's material properties. The wet adhesive silks of the 18 target species have significant variation in adhesiveness, material efficiency, and response to humidity. Thus, the discovery of constituent proteins will allow design of environmentally friendly glues with tailored properties. Furthermore, web-building spiders offer many opportunities for science educators to integrate biology, chemistry, physics, and mathematics as they engage their students in the natural world. The team of investigators will mentor undergraduate and Master's students, as well as incorporate the research into undergraduate course curricula. Additionally, team members will offer science enrichment activities at rural Virginia public elementary schools, run workshops for middle and high school science teachers, and mentor New York City high school students to complete original research projects.The evolutionary diversity of spider aqueous glues offers a unique opportunity compared to other bioadhesives to determine how molecular building blocks contribute to different aspects of adhesion. By integrating transcriptomics, proteomics, and biomechanics within a phylogenetic framework, the proposed experiments will pinpoint protein characteristics that co-evolve with interfacial adhesion, intra-glue cohesion, and humidity responsiveness. Objective 1 identifies shifts in gene expression associated with the evolution of wet adhesive silk by profiling transcriptional diversity in each of the silk gland types of 5 divergent araneoid species and 3 outgroup taxa. It also investigates evolution of expression levels in the adhesive-producing silk glands of an additional 13 species that build different web types and forage under divergent humidity levels. Objective 2 identifies and quantitates the proteins that compose adhesive silks of all 18 species, as well as their post-translational modifications. Objective 3 measures wet adhesive silk material properties for the same 18 species at different humidities. These integrated experiments will contribute to understanding the origin and molecular underpinnings of a key innovation. Specifically, they will determine the degree to which gene expression shifts and new genes were required to make a novel type of silk. The proposed work will track evolutionary rates in glue protein characteristics, including post-translational modifications, which is currently poorly understood. Finally, glue material property measurements will test the hypothesis that humidity responsiveness of spider glue droplets has evolved for optimal performance at the humidity in which a spider species typically forages.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

蜘蛛的壮观多样性及其作为全球关键捕食者的作用很大程度上归因于它们的创新用途。例如，金色的球形蜘蛛或黑寡妇可以旋转六种不同类型的干纤维和湿的粘合剂丝。这些蜘蛛及其亲戚（Megadiverse superfiverse araneoidea）制造的湿粘性丝与其他蜘蛛群的干prey捕获丝绸相比，它们的材料成本较低。此外，这些丝绸胶水在各种环境中具有粘合性，包括挑战商业胶水的极端湿度条件。来自三个机构的多学科团队将研究粘合蛋白成分的变化与胶水材料特性的变化有关。 18个目标物种的湿粘性丝在粘附性，材料效率和对湿度的反应方面具有显着差异。因此，发现成分蛋白将允许设计具有量身定制特性的环保胶水。此外，网络构建蜘蛛为科学教育者提供了许多机会，以使生物学，化学，物理和数学与学生与学生参与到自然世界中。调查人员团队将指导本科生和硕士学生，并将研究纳入本科课程课程。此外，团队成员还将在弗吉尼亚州农村公立小学，中学和高中科学教师开设研讨会，以及导师纽约市高中学生来完成原始研究项目。蜘蛛胶水的进化多样性提供了与其他生物添加剂相比，与其他分子建筑物为不同方面的辅助方面相比提供了独特的机会。通过将转录组学，蛋白质组学和生物力学整合到系统发育框架中，提出的实验将指出蛋白质特征，这些特征与界面粘附，磁盘内凝聚力和湿度响应能力共同进化。目标1通过分析5种丝腺类型的转录多样性和5种不同的Araneoid物种和3种外群分类单元中的转录多样性，从而确定了与湿粘性丝进化相关的基因表达的变化。它还研究了另外13种物种产生粘合剂的丝腺中表达水平的演变，这些丝绸在不同的湿度水平下构建了不同的网络类型和草料。目标2识别并定量构成所有18种种类的粘合丝及其翻译后修饰的蛋白质。目标3测量在不同的湿度下，相同18种的湿粘性丝质材料特性。这些综合实验将有助于理解关键创新的起源和分子基础。具体而言，他们将确定基因表达转移的程度和新基因制造一种新型的丝。拟议的工作将跟踪胶蛋白特征的进化速率，包括翻译后修饰，目前知之甚少。最后，胶料材料的性能测量结果将检验以下假设：蜘蛛胶液滴的湿度反应能力已进化为最佳性能，以在湿度上通常在这种湿度下进行探索。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过使用基金会的智力和更广泛影响的评估来评估Criteria通过评估的支持。