Specific insulin-like peptides encode sensory information to regulate distinct developmental processes.

ABSTRACT: An insulin-like signaling pathway mediates the environmental influence on the switch between the C. elegans developmental programs of reproductive growth versus dauer arrest. However, the specific role of endogenous insulin-like peptide (ILP) ligands in mediating the switch between these programs remains unknown. C. elegans has 40 putative insulin-like genes, many of which are expressed in sensory neurons and interneurons, raising the intriguing possibility that ILPs encode different environmental information to regulate the entry into, and exit from, dauer arrest. These two developmental switches can have different regulatory requirements: here we show that the relative importance of three different ILPs varies between dauer entry and exit. Not only do we find that one ILP, ins-1, ensures

SUBMITTER: Cornils A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3042873 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature