A modular library of small molecule signals regulates social behaviors in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: The nematode C. elegans is an important model for the study of social behaviors. Recent investigations have shown that a family of small molecule signals, the ascarosides, controls population density sensing and mating behavior. However, despite extensive studies of C. elegans aggregation behaviors, no intraspecific signals promoting attraction or aggregation of wild-type hermaphrodites have been identified. Using comparative metabolomics, we show that the known ascarosides are accompanied by a series of derivatives featuring a tryptophan-derived indole moiety. Behavioral assays demonstrate that these indole ascarosides serve as potent intraspecific attraction and aggregation signals for hermaphrodites, in contrast to ascarosides lacking the indole group, which are repulsive. Hermaphrodite

SUBMITTER: Srinivasan J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3254649 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature