Project:

Using DNA barcoding to explore the evolutionary differences in spider web microbiomes

Students:

Muyao Wang, Linhao Tao, Jiahao Yan

School:

Xuzhou No.1 High School; Dulwich High School Suzhou; Suzhou Foreign Language School, Suzhou, China

Mentors:

Xinyue Wang

Abstract:

Spider silk is a promising material in many fields attributable to its incredible ductility and strength. Nevertheless, the knowledge about the bacteria communities in spider webs is lacking. In this study, we researched three kinds of different spider species and their webs to explore the microbiome in the spider silk in order to better understand the differences in microbial communities across different species of spiders’ webs. Spider species and web microbiome species diversity was determined by DNA barcoding, a process that can identify a species using sequence information from a specific region of the DNA. We used the Qiagen Powersoil Pro kit to extract the DNA from web samples and the silica DNA isolation method to extract the DNA from spider samples. The CO1 marker was used for spider identification and 16S was used for bacterial species identfication. The results could suggest how differences in web microbiomes have shaped spider evolution.

Poster:

Team samples: