Co-option of the hormone-signalling module dafachronic acid–DAF-12 in nematode evolution

Gilberto Bento, Akira Ogawa and Ralf J. Sommer ()
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Gilberto Bento: Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, Spemannstrasse 37; D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
Akira Ogawa: Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, Spemannstrasse 37; D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
Ralf J. Sommer: Max-Planck-Institute for Developmental Biology, Spemannstrasse 37; D-72076 Tübingen, Germany

Nature, 2010, vol. 466, issue 7305, 494-497

Abstract: Sharing the load Plants or animals with identical genomes in a given species can nonetheless develop into wildly differing forms depending on environmental conditions — a phenomenon called 'developmental plasticity' that is widespread in nature, yet rarely described in genetic and molecular terms. A study of a novel predatory trait in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus, namely the formation of additional teeth-like structures in the mouth that allow them to feed on fungi and other nematodes in response to overcrowding, shows that it is mediated by the same endocrine system that controls dauer larva formation. (The dauer state is the nematode equivalent to hibernation.) The plasticity resulting from such co-options of key signalling pathways may contribute to the evolution of morphological novelty.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09164

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