Abstract
The Caenorhabditis elegans dauer larva is specialized for dispersal without growth and is formed under conditions of overcrowding and limited food. The daf-7 gene, required for transducing environmental cues that support continuous development with plentiful food, encodes a transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily member. A daf-7 reporter construct is expressed in the ASI chemosensory neurons. Dauer-inducing pheromone inhibits daf-7 expression and promotes dauer formation, whereas food reactivates daf-7 expression and promotes recovery from the dauer state. When the food/pheromone ratio is high, the level of daf-7 mRNA peaks during the L1 larval stage, when commitment to non-dauer development is made.
Publication types
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Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Animals
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Animals, Genetically Modified
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Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics
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Caenorhabditis elegans / growth & development*
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Caenorhabditis elegans / metabolism
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins*
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Genes, Helminth
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Genes, Reporter
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Green Fluorescent Proteins
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Helminth Proteins / chemistry
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Helminth Proteins / genetics
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Helminth Proteins / physiology*
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Humans
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Larva / growth & development
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Larva / metabolism
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Ligands
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Luminescent Proteins / genetics
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Mutation
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Neurons, Afferent / metabolism*
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Phenotype
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Pheromones / pharmacology
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Temperature
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Transforming Growth Factor beta / chemistry
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Transforming Growth Factor beta / genetics
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Transforming Growth Factor beta / physiology*
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Transgenes
Substances
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Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
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DAF-7 protein, C elegans
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Helminth Proteins
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Ligands
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Luminescent Proteins
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Pheromones
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Transforming Growth Factor beta
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Green Fluorescent Proteins
Associated data
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GENBANK/U72883
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GENBANK/U72884