{
  "abstract": "Spiders can maintain a wide range of free-running periods while still being entrained to a 24-hour day. To investigate the underlying mechanism of this entrainment, we constructed the phase-response curve (PRC) for the orb weaver, Metazygia wittfeldae, by subjecting the spiders to one-hour light pulses at various times throughout the circadian day. The resulting type 0 PRC showed high amplitude (> 6 hour) phase advance and delays when the light pulse was applied during circadian time (CT) 16–18, including a break point of delays to advances. We then investigated the genetic mechanism of response to light by splitting M. wittfeldae adult females entrained to 12 hours light:12 hours dark (LD 12:12) into two groups. One group received a 1-hour light pulse 5 hours after lights off (equivalent to CT17), and the other group did not. We then sacrificed spiders for RNA isolations 1 and 10 hours after the light pulse. We identified numerous genes that were downregulated by the light pulse 1 hour after the pulse relative to no pulse group. Intriguingly, many of these genes had a flipped pattern of expression 9 hours later – the pulse group had higher expression than the no pulse group. We also identified clock gene homologs in M. wittfeldae that had distinct expression patterns from other arthropods.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Biology, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, United States of America",
    "Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee, United States of America"
  ],
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Natalia Toporikova"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Wenduo Cheng"
    },
    {
      "name": "Leyuan Qian"
    },
    {
      "name": "Andrew Mah"
    },
    {
      "name": "Thomas Clarke"
    },
    {
      "name": "Thomas C. Jones"
    },
    {
      "name": "Darrell Moore"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nadia A. Ayoub"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0ty45vm6wj9sg.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0344063",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "0ty45vm6wj9sg",
  "issns": [
    "1932-6203"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0344063",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2807|Circadian rhythm and melatonin"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Biochemistry/Circadian oscillators"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Chronobiology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Chronobiology/Circadian oscillators"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Chronobiology/Circadian rhythms"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Genetics/Gene expression"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Genetics/Genetic oscillators"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Eukaryota/Animals/Invertebrates/Arthropoda/Arachnida/Spiders"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Eukaryota/Animals/Invertebrates/Arthropoda/Insects/Drosophila/Drosophila melanogaster"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Zoology/Animals/Invertebrates/Arthropoda/Arachnida/Spiders"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Zoology/Animals/Invertebrates/Arthropoda/Insects/Drosophila/Drosophila melanogaster"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Zoology/Entomology/Insects/Drosophila/Drosophila melanogaster"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Physical sciences/Physics/Electromagnetic radiation/Light/Light pulses"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Research and analysis methods/Animal studies/Experimental organism systems/Animal models/Drosophila melanogaster"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Research and analysis methods/Animal studies/Experimental organism systems/Model organisms/Drosophila melanogaster"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Research and analysis methods/Model organisms/Drosophila melanogaster"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214089169",
  "pdf_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0344063&type=printable",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-23",
  "publisher": "Public Library of Science",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0ty45vm6wj9sg.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:43Z",
      "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0344063",
      "source": "plos",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0344063"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "plos:zoology",
      "subfield": "zoology-behaviour"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Phase response curve and RNA-sequencing demonstrate spiders’ sensitivity to light and pinpoint candidate light-responsive genes",
  "title_text": "Phase response curve and RNA-sequencing demonstrate spiders’ sensitivity to light and pinpoint candidate light-responsive genes",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:43Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0ty45vm6wj9sg",
  "venue": "PLOS One",
  "versions": []
}