Diverse and potentially manipulative signalling with ascarosides in the model nematode C. elegans.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Animals use environmental information to make developmental decisions to maximise their fitness. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans measures its environment to decide between arresting development as dauer larvae or continuing to grow and reproduce. Worms are thought to use ascarosides as signals of population density and this signalling is thought to be a species-wide honest signal. We compared recently wild C. elegans lines' dauer larva arrest when presented with the same ascaroside signals and in different food environments.

Results

We find that the hitherto canonical dauer larva response does not hold among these lines. Ascaroside molecules can, depending on the food environment, both promote and repress dauer larva formation. Further, these recently wild C.

SUBMITTER: Diaz SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4007702 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature