Spiders’ ability to spin webs may be one consequence of a really big genetic mistake.
A close look at the genetics and development of spinnerets — spiders’ silk-making organs — reveals that an early arachnid doubled all of its DNA hundreds of millions of years ago. The findings, published January 14 in Science Advances, suggest key, doubled genes were responsible for the evolution of spinnerets.
The specific genetic changes behind the evolution of these “biological factories” that make silk have remained elusive, says Shuqiang Li, an evolutionary developmental biologist at Anhui Normal University in Wuhu, China. One hypothesis was that spinnerets could have formed in the wake of a