Title: | A pheromone-induced developmental switch in Caenorhabditis elegans: Temperature-sensitive mutants reveal a wild-type temperature-dependent process |
ISSN/ISBN: | 0027-8424 (Print) 1091-6490 (Electronic) 0027-8424 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Formation of a developmentally arrested dispersal stage called the dauer larva is enhanced by a Caenorhabditis-specific pheromone and is inhibited by increasing amounts of food. Pheromone-induced dauer larva formation of three tested wild-type strains is temperature-dependent, so that an increased percentage of the population forms dauer larvae at 25 degrees C compared to lower temperatures. Dauer-defective mutants fail to respond to added pheromone, and some behavioral mutants affected in thermotaxis or egg-laying also exhibit abnormal responses. Temperature-sensitive (ts) dauer-constitutive mutants form dauer larvae at a restrictive temperature regardless of environmental stimuli. At the permissive temperature (17.5 degrees C), alleles of six out of seven dauer-constitutive genes tested overrespond to the dauer-inducing pheromone. All known mutations in daf-4 (eight alleles) and daf-7 (five alleles) produce a ts dauer-constitutive phenotype. One daf-4 and one daf-7 allele are suppressed by the amber nonsense suppressor, sup-7(st5). At least these two dauer-constitutive mutations are likely to cause production of nonfunctional rather than ts gene products. These mutations appear to indirectly result in a ts phenotype by enhancing the expression of a wild-type ts developmental process" |
Keywords: | Animals Caenorhabditis/anatomy & histology/*genetics/physiology Female Larva/physiology *Mutation Oviposition Pheromones/isolation & purification/*physiology Temperature; |
Notes: | "MedlineGolden, J W Riddle, D L eng HD00367/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ HD11239/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/ N01-AG-9-2113/AG/NIA NIH HHS/ Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. 1984/02/01 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Feb; 81(3):819-23. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.3.819" |