256 - Development of Molecular Markers from the Transcriptome of an Ant-Mimicking Spider for Population Genetic Analyses

The ant-mimicking spider, Myrmarachne formicaria, is a species of jumping spider that is native to Eurasia but has been sighted in North America starting in 2001. This spider is distinctive because of the way it imitates ants by moving its front two legs around like an ant’s antennae. As it is not native to North America, it must have been introduced to the country, but there is not currently enough information to determine whether there was only one introduction event or several different events. We can distinguish between these scenarios and learn more about this spider's dispersal history by analyzing patterns in its genetic variation. Previous research analyzed mitochondrial DNA from the spiders, which showed very little genetic variation within the introduced population. As an alternative to mitochondrial DNA, the transcriptome can be analyzed to find more potentially variable genetic markers. I am searching the transcriptome for repetitive sequences, which represent microsatellites that may be useful as genetic markers as they can be highly polymorphic within species. I will be designing primers to amplify these repetitive sequences through PCR, and if the primers perform well, they can be used to genotype individual ant-mimicking spiders and quantify genetic variation. These markers will be useful tools for population genetic analyses of the spiders both in their native and introduced regions.