Discovering the developmental genetic basis of spinneret morphogenesis

Abstract

One of the main goals of evolutionary developmental biology is to understand the mechanistic relationship between genetic and phenotypic changes. This project will pursue this question by using the spinnerets of spiders as an experimental model. Although there is a remarkable diversity of spinnerets morphology, very little information is available on how spinnerets develop, and the evolutionary history of these organs. The aim of this project is to investigate the involvement of candidate genes in the embryonic development of spinnerets of house spiders using gene silencing by RNAi. Comparison of developmental phenotypes and gene expression will be assessed by gene silencing and in situ hybridization in several embryos of spiders. qPCR will be used to check gene expression in dsRNA-injected embryos and negative control embryos and geometric morphometry will be used to test different developmental hypotheses.