One of the most phenomenal innate powers of organisms is their ability to repair injured or lost body parts better known as regeneration. Regeneration is the natural process of replacing or restoring missing body parts and is a primary attribute of all living organisms. Studying regeneration may be a potential for use in biomedical sciences. Closely associated with regeneration in the arthropods is autotomy an anti-predator behavior in animals. Autotomy is one of the most remarkable features of many arthropods, however, autotomy is not well known in spiders. Also, the cost and benefits of regeneration of lost limbs have not received much attention in recent decades. Understanding the cost-benefits dynamics of regeneration of lost limbs in spiders will undoubtedly increase our understanding of the evolutionary trajectory. Spiders are remarkable for their ability to regenerate limbs with apparent ease during young stages. We used the huntsman spider Heteropoda venatoria as a model to address this. This mini-review also addresses the ecological implications of regeneration for spiders themselves. The study is of great importance because understanding the molecular mechanisms associated with regeneration could be exploited to reconstitute regeneration from constituent parts.

Spiders (Arachnida, Araneae) represent one of the largest groups of organisms on Earth with more than 45,000 recorded species found in nearly all terrestrial communities. In these communities, spiders are obligate predators and generalist consumers regulating the density of pests. Spiders have a stupefying array of prey hunting strategies ranging from ambushing to the use of complex silk nares. Spider silk is incredibly tough and can be used for many applications such as wrapping and immobilization, catching prey, as dragline to connect spiders to the web, as ballooning to aid dispersal of juveniles, as shelters in burrows, for mating, and as egg sacs (or cocoons). Typically, spider egg sacs are multilayered, complex structures that physically protect the eggs and hatchlings against parasitoids, predators as well as changing temperatures. Much research has been undertaken to elucidate the ecological role of spiders and the mechanical characteristics of silks. However, few studies have examined the parental care of spiders and the role of egg sacs. This review goes into great detail about spider parental care and the functions of egg sacs.

Transfection has recently gained attention in the field of biomedical research due to its ability to manipulate gene expression. Every mammalian cell type has a characteristic set of requirements for optimal transfection. Some cells can be difficult to transfect and requires optimization for successful transfection. Human lymphoblast TK6 cell line, an important cell line for genotoxic studies, are known to be extremely hard to transfect. Transfection methods for human lymphoblast TK6 is increasingly important. To accomplish this, TK6 human lymphoblasts were transfected with plasmid constructs that expressed Green fluorescent Protein (GFP) and NanoLuc® activity. We compared the transfection efficiencies of three commercially available transfection reagents including Amaxa 96-well Nucleofection procedure using various solutions (SF, SE and SG), Lipofectamine LTX, and Metafectene Pro®. The transfection efficiencies, and toxicity of various reagents were tested by fluorescence microscopy, luciferase activity, and cell viability assays. Amaxa 96-well Nucleofection Solution SF was identified as the best transfection reagent due to its relatively high luciferase activity, acceptable cell viability (80%), and GFP transfection efficiency (80%). Efficient conditions for transfection utilized with this reagent included 0.4µg of plasmid DNA, 1.8 x 105 cells, and the DS 137 nucleofector program.

Transfection has recently gained attention in the field of biomedical research due to its ability to manipulate gene expression. Every mammalian cell type has a characteristic set of requirements for optimal transfection. Some cells can be difficult to transfect and require optimization for successful transfection. Human lymphoblast TK6 cell line, an important cell line for genotoxic studies, is known to be extremely hard to transfect. Thus, optimizing transfection methods for human lymphoblast TK6 are increasingly important. To accomplish this, TK6 human lymphoblasts were transfected with plasmid constructs that expressed green fluorescent protein (GFP) and NanoLuc® activity. We compared the transfection efficiency of three commercially available transfection reagents, including Amaxa 96-well Nucleofection procedure using various solutions (SF, SE, and SG), Lipofectamine LTX, and Metafectene Pro®. The transfection efficiency and toxicity of various reagents were tested by fluorescence microscopy, luciferase activity, and cell viability assays. Amaxa 96-well Nucleofection Solution SF was identified as the best transfection reagent due to its relatively high luciferase activity, acceptable cell viability (80%), and GFP transfection efficiency (80%). Optimal conditions for transfection utilized with this reagent included 0.4 μg of plasmid DNA, 1.8 × 105 cells, and using the DS 137 Nucleofector program.