A shortcut to identifying small molecule signals that regulate behavior and development in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Small molecule metabolites play important roles in Caenorhabditis elegans biology, but effective approaches for identifying their chemical structures are lacking. Recent studies revealed that a family of glycosides, the ascarosides, differentially regulate C. elegans development and behavior. Low concentrations of ascarosides attract males and thus appear to be part of the C. elegans sex pheromone, whereas higher concentrations induce developmental arrest at the dauer stage, an alternative, nonaging larval stage. The ascarosides act synergistically, which presented challenges for their identification via traditional activity-guided fractionation. As a result the chemical characterization of the dauer and male attracting pheromones remained incomplete. Here, we describe the identification o

SUBMITTER: Pungaliya C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2683085 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature