Chromosome-level genome assembly of the black widow spider Latrodectus elegans illuminates composition and evolution of venom and silk proteins.

Background: The black widow spider has both extraordinarily neurotoxic venom and three-dimensional cobwebs composed of diverse types of silk. However, a high-quality reference genome for the black widow spider was still unavailable, which hindered deep understanding and application of the valuable biomass.

Findings: We assembled the Latrodectus elegans genome, including a genome size of 1.