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Comparative analysis of cadmium-induced toxicity and survival responses in the wolf spider Pirata subpiraticus under low-temperature treatment

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Abstract

Cadmium (Cd) pollution is a serious heavy metal pollution in paddy fields, but its effect and underlying mechanism on soil arthropod overwintering and cold resistance are still unclear. In the present study, adult females of the wolf spider Pirata subpiraticus exposed to Cd stress underwent a simulated temperature process (25℃ → 16℃ → 8℃ → 4℃). The mortality rate and content of nutrients in the Cd-treated spiders were dramatically elevated after low-temperature treatment compared to those in the Cd-free control spiders under the same temperature condition. To uncover the putative modulatory mechanism of Cd on cold tolerance in P. subpiraticus, we employed an in-depth RNA sequencing analysis and yielded a total of 888 differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Besides, we characterized genes that participate in multiple cryoprotectant syntheses, including arginine, cysteine, glucose, glycerol, heat shock protein, and mannose. The enrichment analyses found that most of the DEGs involved in biological processes and pathways were related to carbohydrate, lipid, and protein metabolism. Notably, ten Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, such as starch and sucrose metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, amino acid metabolism, mineral absorption, and vitamin digestion and absorption, were distinctively enriched with downregulated genes. Meanwhile, we also identified that seven DEGs might inhibit the KEGG pathway of ovarian steroidogenesis and potentially cripple ovarian function and fecundity in the spider. The decreased egg sac weight, number of hatched spiderlings, and vitellin concentration further supported the view that Cd exposure vitiates the overwintering spider’s fecundity. Collectively, the comparative analysis provides a novel perspective regarding the survival response and fecundity on the cold tolerance of spiders under Cd stress and offers a profound insight for evaluating Cd-induced toxicity on overwintering arthropods.

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Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

Our deepest gratitude goes to the anonymous reviewer(s) for their careful work and thoughtful suggestions that helped improve this paper substantially. We would like to thank Professor Qi-sheng Song (Division of Plant Science and Technology, University of Missouri) for his technical supports and helpful editing.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 31472017, 31272339), Project of Science and Technology Department of Hunan Province (No.2014FJ2003), Tropical Disease Control and Research, Ministry of Education in China (2018kfkt03), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2020JJ4427), and Key Project of Education Department of Hunan Province (18A024).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China

    Bo Lv & Zhi Wang

  2. College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Hunan Agriculture University, Changsha, 410128, Hunan, China

    Jun-zhe Zhuo

  3. Institute of Bast Fiber Crops, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changsha, 410205, Hunan, China

    Yuan-de Peng

Authors
  1. Bo Lv
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  2. Jun-zhe Zhuo
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  3. Yuan-de Peng
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  4. Zhi Wang
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Contributions

ZW: conceptualization and methodology. BL: data curation, writing—original draft, and visualization. JzZ: formal analysis and supervision. YdP: material preparation.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhi Wang.

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The ethical approval was not required. The materials used in this study were unregulated common arthropod spiders, P. subpiraticus, and insect D. melanogaster.

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Lv, B., Zhuo, Jz., Peng, Yd. et al. Comparative analysis of cadmium-induced toxicity and survival responses in the wolf spider Pirata subpiraticus under low-temperature treatment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 32832–32844 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-18548-w

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