Dauer larva

Dauer (German "die Dauer", English "the enduring", "the duration" in the meaning of "a length of time",[1]) describes an alternative developmental stage of nematode worms, particularly rhabditids including Caenorhabditis elegans, whereby the larva goes into a type of stasis and can survive harsh conditions.[2][3] Since the entrance of the dauer stage is dependent on environmental cues, it represents a classic and well studied example of polyphenism.[4][5] The dauer state is given other names in the various types of nematodes such as ‘diapause’ or ‘hypobiosis’, but since the C. elegans nematode has become the most studied nematode, the term ‘dauer stage’ or 'dauer larvae' is becoming universally recognised when referring to this state in other free-living nematodes. The dauer stage is also considered to be equivalent to the infective stage of parasitic nematode larvae.

As E. Maupas first proposed in 1899-1900, all nematodes have five stages separated by four moults.[2] Under environmental conditions that are favorable for reproduction, C. elegans larvae develop through four stages or moults which are designated as L1, L2, L3 and L4. After L4, animals moult to the reproductive adult stage. However, when the environment is unfavorable, L1 and L2 animals have the option to divert their development from reproduction to dauer formation. Signals such as temperature, food supply, and levels of a dauer-inducing pheromone, a population density cue, influence this dauer decision. Dauer larvae are thus considered an alternative L3 stage larva, and this stage is sometimes preceded by L2d. L2d animals are considered pre-dauer and are characterised by delayed development and dark intestines produced by storage of fat. L2d larvae can either continue normal development or enter dauer stage depending on whether the conditions that triggered their formation persist. Dauer is not, however, a permanent condition. In fact, if the food supply and the population density become optimal for growth the dauer larvae can exit this stage and become L4s and then adults.[6]

Dauer larvae are extensively studied by biologists because of their ability to survive harsh environments and live for extended periods of time. For example, C. elegans dauer larvae can survive up to four months, much longer than their average lifespan of about three weeks during normal reproductive development.[7] Two genes that are essential for dauer formation are daf-2 and daf-23.[8] Dauer formation in C. elegans requires a nuclear receptor DAF-12 and a forkhead transcription factor DAF-16. In favorable environments, DAF-12 is activated by a steroid hormone, called dafachronic acid, produced by the cytochrome p450, DAF-9. DAF-9 and DAF-12 have been implicated by Cynthia Kenyon and colleagues as being required for extended longevity seen in animals that lack germlines. Kenyon showed that, although the daf-16 gene is required for life extension in C. elegans, the life extension effect can be uncoupled from dauer growth arrest.[9] The lifespan increase was shown to be associated with an increase in stress resistance.[10]

A characteristic of the dauer stage is the pronounced alae which may be implicated in the entering (L1) and exiting (pre adult or L4 in C. elegans) of the dauer stage.

Dauer larvae generally remain motionless, but can react to touch or vibrations. They can stand on their tails, waving their bodies in the air, and attach themselves to any passing animals, particularly insects, enabling them to travel to new food sources. For example, dauer larvae of rhabditids are often found in parallel rows under the elytra of dung beetles, which transport them to fresh supplies of dung.[2]

C. elegans strains lacking polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) undergo increased dauer arrest when grown without cholesterol. A study found endocannabinoids inhibit the dauer formation caused by PUFA deficiency or impaired cholesterol trafficking.[11]

See also

References

  1. Fuchs, Anton Gilbert (1937). Neue parasitische und halbparasitische Nematoden bei Borkenkäfern und einige andere Nematoden [New Parasitic and Half-parasitic Nematodes with Bark-Beetles and Some Other Nematodes] (in German). Fischer.
  2. Roy C. Anderson (8 February 2000). Nematode Parasites of Vertebrates: Their Development and Transmission. CABI. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-0-85199-786-5.
  3. Riddle DL, Swanson MM, Albert PS (1981). "Interacting genes in nematode dauer larva formation". Nature. 290 (5808): 668–671. Bibcode:1981Natur.290..668R. doi:10.1038/290668a0. PMID 7219552. S2CID 4255657.
  4. Hu, Patrick J. (2007). "Dauer". WormBook: 1–19. doi:10.1895/wormbook.1.144.1. ISSN 1551-8507. PMC 2890228. PMID 17988074. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
  5. Sommer, Ralf J.; Akira Ogawa (September 2011). "Hormone Signaling and Phenotypic Plasticity in Nematode Development and Evolution". Current Biology. 21 (18): R758–R766. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2011.06.034. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 21959166.
  6. RIDDLE, D.. 12 The Dauer Larva. Cold Spring Harbor Monograph Archive, North America, 17 January 1988. Available at: https://cshmonographs.org/index.php/monographs/article/view/5027/4126. Date accessed: 14 July 2016.
  7. Mayer, Melanie G.; Ralf J. Sommer (2011). "Natural variation in Pristionchus pacificus dauer formation reveals cross-preference rather than self-preference of nematode dauer pheromones". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 278 (1719): 2784–2790. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.2760. PMC 3145190. PMID 21307052.
  8. Gottlieb S, Ruvkun G (1994). "daf-2, daf-16 and daf-23: genetically interacting genes controlling Dauer formation in Caenorhabditis elegans". Genetics. 137 (1): 107–120. doi:10.1093/genetics/137.1.107. PMC 1205929. PMID 8056303.
  9. Kenyon C, Chang J, Gensch E, Rudner A, Tabtiang R (1993). "A C. elegans mutant that lives twice as long as wild type". Nature. 366 (6454): 461–464. Bibcode:1993Natur.366..461K. doi:10.1038/366461a0. PMID 8247153. S2CID 4332206.
  10. Lithgow GJ, White TM, Melov S, Johnson TE (1995). "Thermotolerance and extended life-span conferred by single-gene mutations and induced by thermal stress". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 92 (16): 7540–7544. Bibcode:1995PNAS...92.7540L. doi:10.1073/pnas.92.16.7540. PMC 41375. PMID 7638227.
  11. Galles, Celina; Prez, Gastón M.; Penkov, Sider; Boland, Sebastian; Porta, Exequiel O. J.; Altabe, Silvia G.; Labadie, Guillermo R.; Schmidt, Ulrike; Knölker, Hans-Joachim (2018-04-23). "Endocannabinoids in Caenorhabditis elegans are essential for the mobilization of cholesterol from internal reserves". Scientific Reports. 8 (1): 6398. Bibcode:2018NatSR...8.6398G. doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24925-8. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5913221. PMID 29686301.
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