Questions, Feedback & Help
Send us an email and we'll get back to you ASAP. Or you can read our Frequently Asked Questions.
  • page settings
  • hide sidebar
  • show empty fields
  • layout
  • (too narrow)
  • open all
  • close all
Resources » Paper

Luke S Tain et al. (2003) International Worm Meeting "Environmental Regulation of Body Size."

  • History

  • Referenced

  • Tree Display

  • My Favorites

  • My Library

  • Comments on Luke S Tain et al. (2003) International Worm Meeting "Environmental Regulation of Body Size." (0)

  • Overview

    Status:
    Publication type:
    Meeting_abstract
    WormBase ID:
    WBPaper00019261

    Luke S Tain, & Armand Leroi (2003). Environmental Regulation of Body Size presented in International Worm Meeting. Unpublished information; cite only with author permission.

    Organisms developing within low food environments tend to have stunted growth compared to those in high food environments. Is this reduction in body size solely the consequence of lowered food intake, or is this an adaptive response to a lowered nutritional environment? And secondly, is this stunted growth due a decrease in cell number and/or cell size? To determine the nature of this reduction in body size we examined the number and ploidy of C.elegans hypodermal (hyp-7) nuclei, both of which have been shown to positively correlate with body size. We found that C.elegans is capable of adaptively reducing its hypodermal ploidy in response to a low food environment, whilst maintaining hypodermal cell number. We show that this control of body size and hypodermal ploidy is regulated by the ciliated sensory neurons of the amphids. We also show the response of the hypodermal nuclei to varying nutritional levels is under the control of the DBL-1, TGF- signalling cascade and show the cGMP-dependant protein kinase, EGL-4, acts as a negative regulator of DBL-1, regulating both body size and hypodermal ploidy in C.elegans. Finally, we propose the involvement of serotonin signalling in body size and hypodermal ploidy regulation.


    Tip: Seeing your name marked red? Please help us identify you.