Natural variation in gene expression in the early development of dauer larvae of Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans makes a developmental decision based on environmental conditions: larvae either arrest as dauer larva, or continue development into reproductive adults. There is natural variation among C. elegans lines in the sensitivity of this decision to environmental conditions; that is, there is variation in the phenotypic plasticity of dauer larva development. We hypothesised that these differences may be transcriptionally controlled in early stage larvae. We investigated this by microarray analysis of different C. elegans lines under different environmental conditions, specifically the presence and absence of dauer larva-inducing pheromone.

Results

There were substantial transcriptional differences between four C. elegans lin

SUBMITTER: Harvey SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2907687 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature