Publication Date:
1991-03-08
Description:
Larval development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is controlled by the activities of four classes of chemosensory neurons. The choice between normal development and development into a specialized larval form called a dauer larva is regulated by competing environmental stimuli: food and a dauer pheromone. When the neuron classes ADF, ASG, ASI, and ASJ are killed, animals develop as dauer larvae regardless of environmental conditions. These neurons might sense food or dauer pheromone, or both, to initiate the specialized differentiation of many cell types that occurs during dauer formation. Entry into and exit from the dauer stage are primarily controlled by different chemosensory neurons. The analysis of mutants defective in dauer formation indicates that the chemosensory neurons are active in the absence of sensory inputs and that dauer pheromone inhibits the ability of these neurons to generate a signal necessary for normal development.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Bargmann, C I -- Horvitz, H R -- GM24663/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/ -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1991 Mar 8;251(4998):1243-6.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2006412" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Caenorhabditis/*growth & development
;
Cell Survival
;
Larva
;
Models, Neurological
;
Mutation
;
Neurons, Afferent/cytology/*physiology
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
